Pokemon Ranger Shadow of A Doubt
by waterlily12
Summary: Kate goes to Pokemon Ranger school to study on becoming a Ranger. How will things turn out without her family around? Will she be able to handle a Ranger's job? Just what is Team Dim Sun after? Kate's path to become a Pokemon Top Ranger begins now! Alimashipping. This is a retelling-ish of Pokemon Ranger Shadow of Almia. Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon.(I'm really bad at summary)
1. Chapter 1 - First Day At School

Chapter 1 - First day at school

**I was playing this game and well...you know.**

* * *

"Capture on!" I sent out a disc top from the green styler in my hand. I point it at the Pikachu that I am supposed to capture and made circular moments and slashes, the disc following my movements. It closes up on the pokemon and encircling it with a solid circle. Before Pikachu could react, I speed up my arm movements and there is a flash a flash a bright light and I click the disc back into the styler. The capture is complete.

"Congratulations!" Someone claps.

"Huh...?" I snap out from my concentration and have on a blank expression.

"My name is Kaplan, and you are now a member of our secret organization, Team School, planning to take over the world!"

"Wha...?" I blink, _did I miss something?_

"You are now certified to keep your uniforms and the school styler you used earlier!" He continues. "Together we will rule the world! MUWHAHAHA!"

"Excuse me?" I said, not knowing what he is talking about.

"Mr. Kaplan!, please don't tease my student with that ridiculous performance of yours!" I turn around to see a lady with long brown hair, had on a green blouse and a white skirt.

"Heheh... terribly sorry Ms. April." She scratch the back of his head sheepishly. "The timing was just too perfect to ignore! And it was amusing to see the student's face!"

I sweatdrop. _Really?_

"Ahem!" He clears his throat. "Let me start over, congratulations on passing the Ranger School's entrance exam with flying colors! It was quite an impressive sight."

"Um...thank you." I give him a little bow, but honestly, I can barely remember what I did.

"Let me congratulate you as well!" Ms. April turns to me. "Starting today, you will be officially enrolled in the Ranger School! I am Ms. April and I'll be your classroom teacher from now on."

"It's nice to meet you Ms. April!" I said with a little bow for courtesy.

"Come, your new classmates are waiting and class is starting." She begins to walk for the exit. "I'll show you the way to our class."

"O-okay..." I follow her out, taking one last glance out the weird man.

"ENJOY YOUR SCHOOL LIFE!" He grins and waves goodbye.

...

Ms. April told me to wait outside until she signals me into class. The door is pretty thin so I can hear what they're saying inside.

"Good morning class and sorry for the delay!"

"Morning!" They all reply back.

"Today, we will start off with a new transfer student that will be attending our class!"

I start to feel nervous as the classmates-I-have-yet-to-meet start having little conversations.

"A new student?"

"In the middle of the school year?"

"Is that even possible?"

"Apparently."

"I hope it's someone cool or cute!"

"Is it a girl or a boy?"

"It has to be a girl! It will even out the gender ratio!"

"No, boy!"

"Girl!"

"Boy! Why would a girl be here in the middle of the year anyways!"

"Shaddup will you? Who cares! Wait, what are we talking about?"

"Keith, maybe if you start listening for once you would know!"

"As if, Rhythmi!"

Ms. April sigh loudly as the riot broke out. "Just come in."

"Well, that's my cue." I murmur. My stomach churns as I slide open the classroom door and walk up through the big space in the middle of the two rows of desks with two column on each side. I feel chills going down my spine as everyone fell silent and gives me a stare.

The girls high five while the boys groan quietly. I roll my eyes.

"This new classmate of yours traveled to our Almia region to-" She was interrupted by a yawn from a spiky red hair boy, but she continues. "She is here to study on becoming a Pokemon Ranger."

I feel all eyes on me and I tremble, nervously looking around. I then take notice of a boy, with brown hair and a haircut that looks like a Buizel's, he was the only one that isn't paying attention and looking at the window to his side, well, besides the rude red hair.

"Why don't you continue with your name?" Ms. April turns to me. "I'm sure they are excited to know."

_Why don't you just finish it for me? _I sigh inwardly then look at the class of boredom. _Boy, are they excited._

"Hello." I put a hand on my hip. "My name is Kate and I'm so sorry I disappointed you boys, you can't have everything now can you?"

The girls giggle and the boys burn red, knowing that I had over heard the little argument. Only The red hair and brown hair boy remain undisturbed.

Ms. April chuckles. "Let's make our new friend feel welcome and as you might not have heard, Kate have passed her entrance exam with-Keith, what is with that face?"

I look the where she is frowning to and sees the same boy who yawned smirking widely at me.

_He's annoying._

"Anyways, Kate, we'll have you sit..." Ms. April looks around for an empty desk. "...there."

I look to where she points, it's the first one on the second row to the right. I nod and walk past a blonde girl smiling at me as I pass her, she sits in front of me and next to the spiky red hair boy. I'm seated to the boy who still isn't paying attention. The space between the desks are pretty roomy so I set my school bag down to the floor at the side of my assigned seat.

"Alright class, I will change the schedule for today, this will be a study hour." Ms. April says affirmatively. "And Rhythmi, will you be kind enough to show Kate around the school?"

"Absolutely!" The blonde girl chips.

"I will be in the staff room if anyone needs me." Ms. April says. As she leaves, every other students in the class encircle me with curiosity written on their faces. I start to panic inwardly. _Why am I the center of attention?!_

I look over the silent boy, envying him.

_Wish I can as calm as him._

"Hey new kid," The spiky haired boy wheels around on his chair. "How long did it take you to capture that Pikachu?"

"Um...what?" I ask blankly.

"With how you responded just now, I say...an hour minimum!" He chuckles. That was so _not_ funny. _Alright. Time for a come back._

"Keith, stop being a show off." The blonde girl puts her hands on her hip, giving him a stern stare, they all wear the same green and blue uniform with a yellow tie.

"It's fine." I smile at her then turn to the red hair boy.

"You were close but only off by 59 minutes and 56.3 seconds." I answer sarcastically.

"Uh..." He tries to do math in his head but it's not working. "That's..."

The blonde girl giggles. "3.7 seconds right?" I nod, the answer send whispers flying around the room.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"It's just that you have the second highest capture time next to Kellyn's!" She replies. "Oh! I'm Rhythmi and I'll be your tour guide for the school so let's get started!"

"Um...Okay."

I follow her as we walk out of class, before we reach the door, she whispers to me.

"Sorry about Keith, he can be cocky at times."

"I notice." I reply then look over my shoulder to see Keith, pale with his jaws dangling. Then at the quiet one.

"That's Kellyn." Rhythmi notices where I'm looking at. "He's cute but anti-social, serious, and he pretty much acts cold towards everyone except maybe Keith."

"Seriously?" I ask in monotone. "How do they even get along?"

Rhythmi shrugs then clap her hand together excitingly. "Let the tour begin!" She pulls me out. We went to another class that is taught by Mr. Kincaid with Rhythmi explaining to me that he is really uptight and strict and have a motto of 'No running in the hallways.' Ms. April is different but she has a stern side too if you get on her nerves.

"What's with his hair?" I whisper to Rhythmi.

"No idea but that is _a lot _of hair spry and time that he has to put on to make it look like that." Rhythmi replies. Mr. Kincaid looked like he was going to give us a rude awakening if we don't get out of his class so we did.

"There's only two classes?" I ask after walking from Mr. Kincaid's class.

"Mhm, mostly because a lot of people fail the entrance exam." Rhythmi explains. "Though it's kinda of weird to have a new student in the middle of the year."

"Oh really?" I said nervously. We visited the staff room where I got to meet the principle, named Lemont. We talked with Ms. April for a few minutes then we're out the door

DING-DONG DING-DONG!

"Sounds like class is over already." Rhythmi says then leads me upstairs where I'm introduced to Janice, the school-house keeper. On our way down the stairs and to the library, Rhythmi starts to explaining other things that I should know. But my mind had switched to my styler so I took out it out, it's green and complex and I wonder how it works. So I tinker with it a tiny bit -well okay, maybe not just a _tiny_ bit- annndddd... it breaks.

"...Whoops." Was the only thing I could say.

"What's wr-" Rhythmi looks back at the broke styler in my hand and turns pale. "You broke it?!"

"S-sorry!" I straighten up. "I'll fix it!"

We were standing in front of the library door as I scramble to fix my styler.

"Um..." I don't know where to start...I never had to fix a styler before.

_Aw dang it! Why did I even tinker with it! _I thought quickly. At this time, the library door swings open. I stood frozen and panic inwardly.

_Please don't be a teacher, please don't be a teacher, please don't be a teacher!_

Both of us move robotically to look up to see who had said it.

"Oh, it's you two." The boy said coldly. Rhythmi and I relaxes.

"It's only you, Kellyn."

The quiet boy turns his attention to me and I bolt up, feeling a tad nervous and scarlet in the face but his stare narrows down to my broken styler.

"C'mon." He walks behind us and pushes us into the library and to an empty table. He snatch the broken styler from my hand.

"H-hey!" I start to complain but he goes right into working with my styler. Kellyn takes out some tools and screw my device back together after inspecting the problem and fixing it. In no time, my styler is as good as new.

_He's good._

"Here." He hands it to my hand, I stare absentmindedly as he gave it back. I look up from my hand to see Kellyn reading a book and it seems like he does not want to be disturbed.

"Let's...just go." Rhythmi whispers and I nod in agreement. Before we go, Rhythmi explains things about the library and that it's AKA Keith's nap room...aaaannnnddddd Keith is right there...napping... Also, the smartest student, Isaac hangs around here during free period and so does Kellyn.

_How did he fix it so quickly?_ I look at my styler from every angle.

"Don't even think about doing it again." Rhythmi warns after reading my mind.

"I-I won't!" I straighten up and rub the back of my neck.

"Let's go outside for fresh air!" She chirps.

I smile and nod. We walk out into the grassy front, the air is so refreshing that I relax myself and stretch. Rhythmi points to a ware-house looking building and explain some more things and I nod in understanding. She clap her hands together after a few moments.

"Anyways, let's head-"

"Wah!" Without noticing, I'm pushed to the ground face first.

"Kate!" Rhythmi squeaks and run over to help me up. I look to see some really upset Bidoofs.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" A voice screams in panic. "Someone please help!"

"Huh?" We both blurt out in unison and sees Janice stress over the already scattered Bidoofs.

"Oh no! Looks like Janice needs help ASAP!" Rhythmi shouts and turns to me. "Kate! Please help!"

"M-me?" I said, point at myself with a startle look then duck as a Bidoof jumps at me.

"I was wondering what all the ruckus was about." A familiar voice rings into our ears. Rhythmi and I turn to see - "Keith? Kellyn?"

They were at the front on the school entrance and a few meters behind us and look at the scattered Bidoofs running around.

"So you woke up from your nap?" Rhythmi crosses her arms."Well, don't just stare there with amusing looks on your face Keith! Do something as well!"

"It wouldn't be fun that way!" He replies back. "I know! Let's make it a contest!"

I started to panic as I watch the Bidoofs hoping and running everywhere.

"Hey! New girl! How about we race to see who will capture the most?"

"Eh?!" My hair stand on ends.

"Is this really the time for a competition?!" Rhythmi shouts in disbelief at Keith's words.

"Yep!" He grins and gives a thumbs up. "The three of us."

_Three? Don't tell me..._I look at Kellyn's expressionless face._ He's going to be a ranger too? _Guess I didn't put that together yet...him fixing things threw me off.

"Geez! At least learn your classmate's name!" Rhythmi pouts.

"I'll learn it when I have a chance!" He shouts back. "Ready?"

He looks at Kellyn who nod silently in response and then at me.

"Um..." A bidoof came at me again and I duck and cover. Keith falls then bolts up. "How are you going to be a ranger acting like that?!"

That sudden comment rings through my ears and mind, I stood and hold up my styler to accept the challenge.

"You're on." I said calmly. We spread out and ran around, herding Bidoofs our way as fast as I could. As the three of us all go close to one, we shout simultaneously: "Capture on!"

...

"Capture complete." Right after I said it, the other two said it as well, one after another.

"That's all the Bidoofs!" Rhythmi sigh in relief.

"I got three, what did you guys get?" Keith asks.

"Four." Kellyn answers simply.

"Two." I answer in the same way.

"That means I won!" Keith exclaims . "I knew you having the second highest was just a fluke!"

That snaps me out. "Wha..?"

Rhythmi sweatdrops. "Technically, Kellyn won."

"Thank you so much for calming the Bidoofs for me!" We see Janice walking up to us.

"You students were outstanding in your capture!"

Keith forgets about the competition as he takes the praise.

"At least be a little humble..." Rhythmi mutters under her breath.

"And Bidoofs, I'm so sorry for upsetting you earlier." She apologizes. "I'll make you all some tasty pokemon treats!"

Janice walks away with the Bidoofs tailing behind.

"Hey, new kid." Keith turns to me. "I would rate your capture...65 out of 100. But to be honest, you might make a pretty decent ranger someday."

"Me?" I point to myself. I can't really remember what I did...it's all kinda...jumble up. _Why can't I remember?__  
_

"Hello? Earth to Kate!"

"Wha?" I snap out of my daze. Did you say something?"

"So you _do _remember her name!" Rhythmi speaks.

"Well...it's just a guess." He said sheepishly.

"Oh Keith, for goodness sake." She gives him a smile.

"Oi" He calls to my attention again and thumbs at the silent boy. "If you haven't met, this is Kellyn. He's pretty much a genius!"

Rhythmi cough. "Smarter than you."

Keith glares at her.

"Oh! I forgot to show you one last place on campus!" Rhythmi says.

"Is it the Ascension Square?" Kellyn asks dully.

"Mhm!"

"Then we'll tag along too!" Keith exclaims.

"Why?" Rhythmi asks, eyeing him.

"Nothing else to do." Keith shrugs.

"Fine, then let's go!" Keith and Rhythmi lead the way, they seem to be racing each other to our destination.

I sigh, _This has been a long first day..._

Kellyn starts to follow but I stopped him.

"W-wait!" I reach my hand out as if to grab his arm but I didn't.

"What?" He turns to stare at me, I didn't want to look back. I got a bit nervous and I couldn't get anything past my mouth. When I didn't say anything, he turns to start walking again.

"Um...Thank you!" I take a hasty bow. Kellyn turns to look at me.

"For what?" This time, I look into his crystal blue eyes and a blush came across my face though I try to hide it.

"For...fixing my styler a while ago!" I answer quickly. "I didn't get the chance to thank you while we were at the library since I kinda spaced out again."

He laughs at this. "It's fine. Not that big of a deal."

I smile at him. "Phew, you're not as serious and cold like Rhythmi says."

"Really now?" He raises an eyebrow. I nod.

"I feel like I could relax around you!"

_Huh? Did I see a hint of red on his face?...Must be imagining it._

"Hey! What's the hold up!" Keith calls from way over there at the stairs. We made our way over to them and walk down the stairs together to a monument with a large ranger symbol on it.

"This is Ascension Square, later on in the school year, there is going to a special speaker coming here." Rhythmi explains. "That monument is the upper center is the Pledge Stone."

We head over to see the huge thing.

"If you make a firm pledge here with your friends, it will come true! At least that's what we were told." Keith nods.

"And we're done with Rhythmi's school tour of Wonders and Excitements!" Keith sweatdrops.

"You actually have a name for that?" He murmur.

"I heard that!" Rhythmi starts chasing Keith around.

"Do they act like this all the time?" I ask Kellyn.

"You'll get used to it." He replies.

DING-DONG DING-DONG!

The two stop, with Rhythmi sitting triumphantly on top of Keith, after hearing the bell.

"Guess it's time to back to class." Rhythmi states. "Anyways, Kate, I hope we get to be great friends!"

"Don't forget about us!" Keith grins. I smile and nod.

...

Later that night, I flop onto the bottom bunk of the beds to the right. Then I remember something and look for a pen and paper. I have to write everything down so I could tell my little sis about my first day.

"Who are you writing to?" Rhythmi asks, peeking over my shoulder.

"My little sister." I reply.

"How old's you're sister?"

"She's six, I promise her that I will write to her whenever I can after leaving."

"You guys must be very close!" She smiles. I nod and tell her of my family and how my little sister and I like to do things together.


	2. Chapter 2 - Trial of Courage

Chapter 2 - Trial of courage

**Killfifth: I do want to continue through and follow the timeframe of the game, just trying to decide if I should put in all in one story of split it into two. I'm probably towards making it a whole story! I'll probably change the title later on as I go X3**

* * *

Someone shakes my whole body and I open my groggily eyes to see Rhythmi.

"Five more minutes..." I said sleepily and turn to my sides. This time, the shake is vigorous.

"Wha..." I sit up and rub my sleepy eyes. "Rhythmi...it's the middle of the night..."

"I know but come with me-HEY wake up!" I found myself being waken up again.

"I'm up, I'm up." I hold up my tired hands in defeat.

"C'mon then!" She motions her hand for me to follow her.

"Okay..." I said sleepily but my grip slip. "Wah!"

THUMP!

Rhythmi turns to see me headbutt the floor. She facepalms and quickly helps me up and pulls me out of the dorm. I rub my aching head as I stand by the table in the common room for the students. I moved to the couch.

"Took you long enough!" Keith growls.

"She was hard to wake up!" She looks at me as I begin to fall asleep again, on the couch.

"Kate!" They both snap at me which bolts me right up. Keith put a hand of his forehead. "Okay, I believe you."

They said something but I couldn't make it out.

"Wha...what's going on..?" I said sleepily and look around to see a group of students including, Keith, Rhythmi, and Kellyn.

"Where are we and why are we here?" They fall to the floor, except Kellyn.

"Kate!" Keith shakes me hard. "Wake up!"

The shaking is making me dizzy but I became alert after.

"We're going to have you go through the Trial of Courage!"

"The wha...?" I said blankly. They fall down again then bolt right up.

"Did you _not _listen to us the first time?!" I shake my head.

"Basically, every new student of the school will be tested on the night that they arrive." Rhythmi explains.

"We did this a while ago." Keith says. "Now it's your turn!"

"Me?" I point to myself, they all nod.

"Don't worry, Kellyn will accompany you since you need a partner to do it!" Keith pushes Kellyn towards me.

"I thought you said you wanted to do it again?" Rhythmi raises one eyebrow.

"Well..." Keith scratch the back of his head. "I...change my mind..."

Rhythmi gets why and starts teasing him. "O-h, I get it."

"W-what?" Keith says, stepping back.

"You're afraid of the dark aren't you?" Rhythmi puts on a smirk. "I remember when I got paired with you. It was hilarious!"

"What happened?" I ask.

"Well-"

"Okay, okay! I'll go with them too!" Keith grumbles, his face red.

"Uh okay?" I blink. Rhythmi grins.

"Okay then, here are your flash lights!" She hands the three of us flashlights and we make our way down. I was tempted to tinker with the flashlight that Rhythmi gave me when there came tapping foot steps.

"W-what was that?!" Keith blanches jumps behind us.

"Eh..?" I widen my eyes at his sudden reaction. I look over to Kellyn who isn't bother at all by any of this, he didn't complain about being dragged in this as well. The two of us search with our flashlights and located the tapping noise. It was a Bidoof.

"Be careful Keith, it might eat you." I deadpan. He put a hand to his chest and sigh in relief.

"Just a Bidoof." He murmur. "It startled me."

"Oh really?" I ask sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"A-a-anyway, l-let's g-get this o-over with!" He stammers. I roll my eyes. _The show-off is losing his cool._

The first place I went to was the staff room, or at least I think it is. I hold up my flashlight to the label that says: [Staff Room]

I open the door to see the empty staff room.

_Okay...a bit creepy._

"By the way...What am I suppose to do?"

"Okay so, you need to find the four stylers that we left in each room and bring them down the the basement and then we're done." Keith explains quickly.

"Oh, okay." I look around to see if there is one. Someone taps my shoulder, I turn to see Kellyn tapping me. For a second there, my heart skipped a beat.

"There." He points to a Pichu. I tilt my head at what he meant but as the Pichu wander around, I saw a green styler strapped onto it.

"Oh! Thanks!"

"Kellyn! You're not supposed to give it away like that!" Keith snaps. Kellyn only shrugs. I walk over to the Pichu.

_How hard is it to get it off from a Pichu?_

I tried to make a grab for Pichu and it notices me and runs away.

"Pi! Pichu!" It cries out in startle.

_Okay...I take it back._

"Hey! Come back here!" I left the door open so the Pichu panics out, I chase it out the room.

"H-hey! W-wait up!" I heard Keith shout but I was focus on the Pichu to stop.

"I should've used my styler to capture it when I had the chance!" I mutter, thinking how stupid I am. "Now I can barely locate Pichu!"

I slide open the library and hurry inside. I see Pichu up on the highest shelve in the room, why is there a shelve this high anyways?

"Pichu!" It pulls the skin under its eye down and stick its tongue to mock me.

"Why you..." I get angry and dashes to the shelve to start climbing. As I start, it's happening again.

"Pi pichu!" It squeaks and starts to run.

"Oh no you don't." I take out my styler and release my disc. "Capture on!"

I use the free arm I have while the other one and my feet take a firm position on the shelves and made movements to guide the disc. The Pichu looks confused and readies an thundershock. I clench my teeth as I move faster. The disc made a solid circle and engulfs Pichu in a flash but it uses the electric type move at the same moment.

"Wah!" The electricity shocks me and my grip slip and I fall backwards. I close my eyes to wait for the pain. Three, two, one...Nothing happened, I didn't feel anything. I squint open one of my eyes and sees a figure, I open the other eye and gets a clear picture.

"Kellyn...?" I said, a bit surprised. He's carrying me princess-style.

"Pi pichu!" Pichu hops down and walks to my side.

He sighs. "You should think before you do things."

My face blush bright red. "Could you put me down now?" I squeak.

He sets me down and put his hands on his hip. Pichu hands me the styler it had with it.

"You could've captured it without climbing up the shelve."

"I...um..." I squeak, my face still red, my memories are kinda blurry from before. I felt a sudden soreness traveling through my body. I drop to down on one knee and put my elbow on it, panting.

_What's going on?_

"Are you okay?" He gets on one of his knee too. I glance at him and could've sworn I saw a look of worry on his face but he looks away. I look around and sees another styler but...it's on a shelve. I stand up and walk to it but end up falling forward again. Kellyn catches and supports me.

"Heheh...let's just get this over with so I can go back to sleep." I laugh sheepishly and starts my climb.

_At least it's not as high._

I got it and hop down, feeling to shock of the ground as my feet lands.

"Let's go!" He nods.

"Oh and thanks Pichu!"

"Pi! Pichu!" It chirps and leaves. We left and head to our classroom.

"Wait." I stop realizing something. "Where's Keith?"

We look around but sees no trace of him.

_Wait, wait, wait! That means...I'm alone...with Kellyn?! _I panic inwardly as I turn red. Luckily, it's dark so he didn't notice it.

* * *

**Keith**

"Um...guys?" I called out but gets no response. Chills are sent down my spine as I look around in the dark.

"Great time to loss my flashlight and them..." I grumble.

* * *

**Kate**

Keith probably got lost and end up back at the upstairs so I didn't worry much about him. We enter into our class at night, I have to admit, it's pretty scary even though I know it's my class. There was a shuffling noise and I jump behind Kellyn.

"W-what is that?!"

"It's only a Bidoof." He says calmly, flashing his light at the pokemon. I facepalm.

"I'm starting to act like Keith..." I mutter then see a bunch of creates. I guess the styler is hidden in one of them since I don't see it around anywhere, thankfully, there's a Bidoof in here.

"Capture on!" I release my disc and guide it to the Bidoof, making movements with the styler, a solid line forms and the pokemon flashes.

"Capture complete." I click my styler as the disc returns to me.

"Bidoof, crush that create!" I command, pointing at the one next to Ms. April's desk. Bidoof smashes the create to pieces and I found the third styler.

"Thanks Bidoof!" Bidoof smiles and walks away.

"One more to go." I murmur. Kellyn and I head to Mr. Kincaid's room and quickly spots the last styler on a desk. I took it, now I'm almost done.

_That one was the easiest yet!_

I spoke too soon. A Zubat comes attacking my face.

"AHHH!" I scream and run around, trying to get the Zubat away from me. Someone takes a hold of me and I look to see the Zubat flying away. I sigh inwardly and look up to see that it's Kellyn. I just notice how tall he is and I wonder if he's older than me.

"Why didn't you capture it to calm it down?" He states like it's the most obvious thing to do.

"Well for one thing, it came out of no where." I hold up 1 finger to count as 1 and then another to symbol 2. "Second, I'm...scared of Zubats."

I said the last part quickly while looking away.

"A ranger must always face the unexpected and overcome their fear." He lectures me.

"Whatever." I pout with my cheeks red with embarrassment.

Finally, we head down to the basement and place the four stylers there.

_This place...I can feel something weird in here..._

We heard foot steps and someone came out of the room in front of us in the basement.

"WHO'S THERE?!" It's Mr. Kincaid yelling at us. "NO ONE'S ALLOWED IN HERE EXCEPT FOR ME!"

"AHHHH!" I screamed and run away pulling Kellyn with me by the scuffs of his uniform. We climb up the stairs and I trip onto the very last one and faceplant myself onto the floor.

"Kate! Kellyn!" Rhythmi runs over to help me up.

"You guys took so long so I got worried!" Rhythmi says, wiping away a tear that was on her face then turns her head. "And _t__hat _guy."

I look to where she is glaring and sees Keith sleeping on the couch. I fell down.

"I knew it!" I said after bolting right up.

"Whuh?" Keith wakes up and sees the two of us. "Kate! Kellyn!"

He jumps at us like a child. Kellyn avoid it but I didn't see it coming. "There you guys are!"

"HUH?!" I said startles. "What are you?! A three year old?!"

"I tried to look for you guys but I got lost _and_ I lost my flashlight."

I pry him off.

He scratches the back of his head. "And somehow...I manage to find my way back here."

"Duh...the school isn't that big." Rhythmi smacks his head.

"Well, can't really do anything about it anymore." Kellyn says, with a bit of cold tone. I stare at Kellyn with raised eyebrows.

"What?" He looks back at me.

"Nothing, just glad that I meet you." I said bluntly but softly. _Oops...did i really just said that?_

"Same." He looks away smiling and blushing a little.

"Oh yeah...we meet Mr. Kincaid in the basement..." I said turning to Rhythmi and Keith.

"Uh oh." They both said

My first day felt so long that I thought that I been with these guys for a while. We went back to our respective dorms.

"Kate..." Rhythmi says sound like she realized something.

"Yeah?" I sit up from my bed to see Rhythmi somewhat speechless and pale. "W-what?"

"He_ smiled _and he_ blushed..._"

"Who?" I tilt my head.

"I never seen him like that..."

"You're making no sense." I frown then yawn. "I'm going to sleep."


	3. Chapter 3 - Consequences

Chapter 3 - Consequences

* * *

"Ugh..." I facedesk. "Why...do we have to get detention..."

"Well, we did get caught by Mr. Kincaid in the restricted basement and he recognizes our faces." Kellyn states, staring boringly at the chalk board with his head leaning on his hand.

"How am I suppose to know that he was in there?!" I sit up. He shrugs. The door slide open and we turn around to see who it is but I felt so sleepy.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kellyn ask.

"Well...it was sorta our fault that you guys got detention...heheh." Keith's voice says.

"Sorta?" Kellyn raises an eyebrow.

"Ms. April says that we can come in." I heard Rhythmi's voice said. "Um...Kate?"

"H-Here!" I bolt up from my grogginess. "W-what?"

I look around to see two figures. "Who are you guys?"

The two fell down anime style.

"Kate, how many fingers am I holding?" Kellyn holds up his hand.

"Um..." My eyes see only blurriness and everything seems to have doubled or even tripled. "Four...no...eight! Wait, is this a trick question?"

My head starts spinning. "Gah...! So many!" I feel like toppling over but I didn't. Someone held up my back.

"You must be really tired." I heard Keith's voice. I guess the two blurry figures are Keith and Rhythmi.

"Wha...?"

"Maybe you should just sleep on it." Rhythmi's voice sounds worried.

"No...I'm okay." I close my eyes and stand up from Keith's support. I take a deep breath in and everything starts to concentrate into clear images. I open my eyes.

"See? Absolutely fine!." I chirp trying to be as energetic as I can. The three looks exchange worried.

"What?"

"You did had it rough last night, you know, getting shocked and falling down from a bookcase." Kellyn says. "Maybe you should rest."

I shake my head. "I'm fine! What kind of a ranger would I be if I let that get to me?"

"If you say so." Kellyn replies with furrowed brows.

...

After waking from a good night's sleep, I feet much better...though I seem to have gaps in my memories in the past few days. I look at the clock that says I have an hour before class starts.

_Holy...I woke up really early today..._

I tiptoe out of the room since my roommates are still asleep then I slide down using the rails of the stairs.

"Weeee!" Then I notice someone walking pass...right when I'm about to run out of rails.

"W-watch out!" I yelp as I slide into the air.

OOF!

"Ow!" That person exclaim.

"S-sorry!" I sit up next to him.

"Isaac!" A boy with spiky green hair comes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Ponte." The blonde haired boy sits up and states. "And be careful of where you're going."

"I'm so sorry!" I apologizes again.

"It's fine." The boy sighs. "By the way, I'm Isaac."

"I'm Kate." We shakes hands.

"That there standing is Ponte." Isaac motions to the one standing.

"Hi." I wave and he waves back.

"I'm surprise that anyone gets up this early in the morning except for Ponte, me, and one other."

"Really?" I tilt my head. "Why are you guys up so early?"

"Mr. Kincaid gave me permission to do free study anytime I want." Isaac explains. "And I was just about to help Ponte with his studies until you came sliding down the rails."

"Oh! So you're the smart boy I heard from Rhythmi!" I point.

"Anyways, we have to go." Isaac states. "See you sometimes."

"Bye." Ponte says.

"Bye." I wave at the two.

"Kate?" I heard a familiar voice. Turning towards the staircase, I see Kellyn standing in the middle.

"Oh. So you're the 'one other' that wakes up early." _I should've known..._

"Why are you just sitting there on the floor?"

"Oh...um..." I push myself up with one knee. "I was sliding on the rails and I ran out of it so I fell."

"Did it hurt?" Kellyn asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Um no why."

"Shouldn't you feel a least a bit of pain from falling?" Kellyn asks.

"Oh! Right!" I rub my behind. "Ow..."

"You just felt it now?" Kellyn sweatdrops. "You are very absentminded."

"It didn't hurt that much since I landed on top of Isaac's back!" I pout.

"So you meet Isaac?"

"Mhm and Ponte too." I reply. "They went studying. Do you always wake up this early?"

"Yeah, Keith's snoring is the cause." He says casually. "But we're used to it by now."

"O-oh..?" _If someone snores near me..I wouldn't get a wink!_

"You need to think about things before you act."

"Eheheh..." I scratch the back of my head.

Today, class is over early so I head out but instead of going back to the dorms, I ended in the library. I don't even know how I got here, wasn't paying attention probably. But since I'm here anyways, I might as well grab a book and study since I missed most of what Ms. April was talking about. I read through pages after pages about capturing and different types of poke-assists, I can't find myself to stay awake. The silent library is too inviting for me. I cross my arms on the table and use them as pillows and doze off, with the book still in one of my hand that faces away from my face.

I wake up like about two hours later. I slowly lift my head up and rub my eyes and yawn at the same time. My blurry vision focus and I see someone across from me.

"Oh hi Kellyn." I said a little absentminded.

"Hey." He greets back, not taking an eye off of the book he's reading.

"What are you..." I look closely at the book and realizes that it's the one I read before I fell asleep. "Uh..."

"What?"

"I was reading that." I point to the green covered book.

"How does one read with their eyes close with a book that's not even in front of their face adding in that it was closed." He said sounding a bit amused and had an arch eyebrow but still looking at the book. I hit my head mentally.

_Right...I closed the book when I fell asleep...Damn it! Why does he have to word it like that?!_

"Um...well, I was um simply running through the pages in my mind so um I could memorize them...?"

He closes it. "A nice excuse but I know you were sleeping, Keith and Rhythmi tried to wake you but you wouldn't budge, telling them that they were Zubats and to go away."

My face lits red. "I what...?"

"You heard me." He place his head on his hand and leans on his elbow, staring at me with a dull face. "At least you didn't snore like Keith does everytime he's in here."

"Um...why are you here?" I ask changing the subject and turning red in the face.

"Because people read in a library." Giving me an obvious answer.

"But there are plenty of other empty seats." I state.

"You're sitting on the one I usually sit in." He counters.

"Oh." I said in monotone. "S-sorry." Then I try getting up.

He sighs and picks up the book again. "Forget it."

"O-okay..." I blink and sit back down. After a moment of staring into space, something came into my mind.

"Hey, Kellyn."

"Hm?"

"When's the test?" I ask, faintly remember Ms. April saying something about it.

"Tomorrow." My eyes widen at that answer and I bolt up, slamming the table with both hands.

"TOMORROW?!" Everyone in the library stares me down since I was so loud.

"Yeah, Ms. April said it a few days ago." He says in monotone. "I guess you were half-asleep again."

I grab a fist full of hair. "CRAP!"

Everyone stares me down again for ruining the silence.

"Kellyn! Gimme that book!" I snatch it out of his hands before he can even answer. I skim through the pages, finding that I already knew these stuff.

_Weird..._

"Dude, calm down." He says. I ignore him. He takes the book from me.

"I was only joking."

" You- W-what...?" I said blankly. "J-joking...?"

"Don't you remember? We already took it."

"W-we...wait wha?" I'm getting more confused. _How can I have taken a test but I don't even rememb-Oh. It's faint but I think I remember now._

"Anyways...Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?"

"About the test? Kinda, just wanted to see your reaction." He says airily. I fell off my chair then get up.

"Very funny." I said sarcastically. I stretch and for once, I feel fine.

"Welp, I'm off." I said then starts running out. I wasn't paying attention to where I am going so I bumped into someone...that I don't EVER want to meet in the hallways.

"Kate!" I heard Kellyn call me and runs over here.

"Well, well, what's this?"

"Eep! M-Mr. Kincaid!" I squeak, my hair stand on end.

"You two _do _know that running in the school is prohibited correct?"

I nod.

"Well then, you know the consequences of breaking a rule?"

I shake my head. His mouth turns into a wide smirk.

"You two, will be cleaning this entire school, by hand, by today." I feel like I been suck into a black hole.

"W-what..?"

"You heard me and you won't be doing anything else till you're done." He snaps then hands Kellyn and I a bucket and towel each then he leaves, smirking in triumph. My mouth is still agape at this sudden scenario, Kellyn stood quietly next me.

"I-I-I'm sorry..." I apologizes solemnly.

"Again, you never think about the results do you?"

"I guess not." I reply, giving him a solemn smile.

"Well, let's get going."

"Huh?" I look at him stupidly. "You're not mad or annoyed?"

He looks over his shoulder. "What's done is done."

_His poker face...I can never read what he is thinking._

...

"Kate, you're going to slip."

"Don't be so silly!" I called out while running, pushing the wet towel on the floor from one side of the school to the opposite side.

"It should go faster this way!" I said, heading towards him.

"Urk!" I sweatdrop as my feet slip on the slippery floor and tumble forward.

"I told-" I tumble onto him before Kellyn can finish and we both went tumbling until we hit a wall.

"Whoops..."

"Ugh..."

"My head..." I crouch up and rub my head with one eye closed.

"You can say that again." Kellyn leans up on his elbow and do the same. "Mine getting off me now?"

I stare at him then realized what he meant, I turn pink. "S-sorry!"

He tries to not laugh but it got out anyways. "I have to admit, that was funny!"

I stare blankly then laugh too.

"Kate? Kellyn?" A familiar voice says. We stop laughing and look up to see Keith and Rhythmi. "What are you guys doing?"

"She got in trouble with Mr. Kincaid and I was dragged along with her." Kellyn thumbs to me. "So now we have to clean the entire school by hand by today."

They sweatdrop. "Holy..." Keith says, shocked.

"Didn't know you could get into that much trouble." Rhythmi says blankly.

"Eheheh..." I stick a bit of tongue out while scratching the back of my head.

"Mind if we join?" Keith asks.

"Huh?" I widen my eyes.

"You guys seem like you were having fun by the way you were laughing!" Keith grins.

"Besides, what are friends for?" Rhythmi smiles.

I nod with a smile. "Thanks!"

The others kept laughing at me since I slip so many times. After so many slips, I had enough and threw the towel I had at Keith face.

"Hey!" He takes it off and throws it back to me but I duck and it went to Rhythmi instead.

"Keith..." Rhythmi growls as Keith laughs hard, then throws it back as hard as she ever thrown but he ducks and the towel flew...to Kellyn but it didn't knock him down.

We all look as he takes the wet towel off his face, shadow hides his eyes.

"Kellyn...s-sorry!" Keith blanches. Rhythmi and I wonder if something is going to happen.

"Would. You. Guys." Kellyn's voice tremble with fury and we can only cower under his dark aura, he throws the towel at light fast speed. "STOP THAT?!"

The towel sped past Keith, he barely dodged it, and hits me as hard as a rock, I fall down with a loud THUMP! My head starts to hurt.

"Kate!" Rhythmi screeches and quickly comes towards me, take the towel off my face reveal swirling eyes.

"Torchics are everywhere..." I said, unconsciously. I look up to see three blurry faces, all looking worry, at least I think they are.

"Kate!" The three calls simultaneously.

"Huh...?" I blink, sight coming into focus. I see Rhythmi, Keith, and Kellyn looking over me with worry. I slowly get up and lean on my hand.

"I'm okay..." I rub my head.

"Sorry." Kellyn apologizes. "That wasn't meant for you."

"That was too close..." Keith relaxes. Kellyn glares at him which tense Keith up, I did not know he can be like that.

"It's fine!" I wave it off. "Let's finish this quickly!"

The three agrees and we got back to work.


	4. Chapter 4 - Misjudgement

Chapter 4 - Misjudgement

* * *

"Class, do you know what today is?"

"OUTDOOR CLASS!" All the students cheers except for the usual. Keith is especially excited.

"That's right! We will be having a guess speaker to talk to everyone today at Ascension Square!" Ms. April informs. "So let's all head over there!"

We follow Ms. April to the Square and sees someone with an afro wearing a red jacket uniform, standing in front of the Pledge Stone. He waves excitingly at us. All of the school students surrounds him with excited looks.

"Hello everyone!" He greets with a grin. "My name is Crawford and this is my partner Budew!"

"Bu Budew!" The grass pokemon chirps.

"I once graduated from this school and is now a ranger in Vientown!" He says as everyone admires him.

"Hello Crawford, it's been a while since I saw you but I can never forget how much trouble you cause me!" Ms. April smiles.

"Heheheh!" He smiles sheepishly.

"It's time for the Questions and Answers event, everyone can each as Mr. Crawford a question and he will do his best to answer!"

"Aw only one?" Keith says, disappointed.

"He has over forty questions that he want to ask." Rhythmi whispers to me, we giggle. Everyone took turns asking Crawford questions and he answers them, so were personal, some informative, and some are just plain funny. Only ones that didn't ask any were Kellyn and I. I don't know about him but I couldn't think of a question that hasn't already been asked. In the middle of one, Crawford receives a call in his styler.

"One second." He says to us and answers the voicemail.

"Hello, this is Barlow! Do you here me?"

"Loud and clear."

"There is a Mantine hurt on the eastern shore side of the School Island! Apparently, it ran into a cargo ship. Luana is heading your way by boat as we speak." The voicemail informs. "Head over there immediately! We will need your help!"

"Roger, Leader!" He turns it off and does a pose. "I'm on my way Mantine!"

Everyone admires him. He turns to the principle.

"Sorry, I will have to cut this short!"

"No need to apologize! A Ranger's job is always important." He then turns the a dock. "Besides, is that your boat?"

We turn to see a white boat heading to the school dock. A girl in a Ranger uniform comes out.

"Crawford! Let's hurry!" She calls out.

"Alright students, keep doing your best and I hope to meet some of you again!" With that he dashes off and jump onto the boat, it moves swiftly out into sea and disappears in seconds.

"That. Was. So. Cool!" Keith yells, star struck.

"Well, everyone, that certainly was the shortest outdoor class ever but realistic and exciting!" Ms. April says. "Now let's all head back to our classrooms!"

Everyone starts heading back except us four.

"Alright! Now I'm even more fired up on becoming a ranger!" Keith says, putting a fist in front of him and flames emitting in his eyes.

"I'll definitely try my hardest to becoming an operator!" Rhythmi chirps.

"I'm not going to lose either!" Keith says. "Especially since I have Kellyn and Kate as my rivals!"

Kellyn nod but I blanked out.

"Whuh?" Keith falls.

"Were you even listening to a word we said?!"

"S-sorry!" I apologize.

"Okay...maybe not Kate." He deadpans.

"Keith, don't be so mean!" Rhythmi smacks him on the back of his head. He almost fall but comes back up again.

"I know! Let's make a pledge together at the pledge stone that we will achieve our dreams!" He suggests.

"That's a great idea!" Rhythmi compliments. "How about it you two?"

We nod and made a pledge to make our dreams a reality then head back to class.

Later that night, I wrote down what happened today so I could sent it to my sister.

...

There is a little commotion today in class.

"Hey Kellyn, where's Keith?" Rhythmi asks, noticing the empty desk next to her. He shrugs in reply.

"Don't know, he headed out the dorms before me, which is a first." Then the class door slides open and Mr. Kincaid comes in.

"Sorry to disrupt Ms April." He says. "But I would like to discuss something with Keith."

"Oh, well...Keith is running late today." She answers. "Though that is very unlike him."

"Late?" Mr. Kincaid arches my eyebrow. "You see, we have a little problem. We have a number of stylers stolen from the staff room today and I have already confirmed to innocence of my students regarding this matter."

"Mr. Kincaid!" Isaac comes in. "I'm sure there is some misunderstandings, Keith can't be the culprit!"

"Are you assuming that Keith stole them?" Ms. April arch an eyebrows.

"Well, he is uncharacteristically absent today of all days...don't you think that is too much of a coincidence?"

"Mr. Kincaid!" Rhythmi scrapes back her chair and confronts him. "Keith is a prankster but he is not a thief!"

"I assure you," Mr. Kincaid says sternly. "His rule breaking and trouble making personality makes him the most suspicious."

"Mr. Kincaid, do you have any physical proof of Keith's doings?" Ms. April challenge. "May I have a little time? I'm going to look for Keith and clear this up."

"Ms. April!" Kellyn and I stand up. "Let us help as well!"

We stare stare at each other, surprised that we said it in unison.

"I want to help too!" One of the other students says.

"Me too!"

A few seconds, we all stood up and walk to Ms. April.

"We're going to prove Keith's innocence!" Rhythmi says, Kellyn and I nod. Mr. Kincaid grimace from face to face then stomps out.

"Alright everyone, guess class is postpone today." Ms. April says. "Let's search the school for any sign of Keith!"

We nod and walk out.

"I want to help as well." Issac states. "Even though he annoys me when he sleeps in the library, I respect him as a friend."

Rhythmi smiles. "We all do, even if he has his bad ends."

...

We split up to search up and down the school but nothing is found.

"Kate! Kellyn!" Rhythmi runs to us as we search showing a green styler. "Janice says she found it in the school yard!"

We get where she is going and run outside to see another one in the middle of the school yard, then another at the stairs leading down of the yard.

"These must be the missing stylers!" Rhythmi exclaims.

"Hm..." Kellyn puts a hand on his chin, thinking.

"STOP!" A loud voice screams.

"That voice!" I recognize it as Keith's.

"It sounds like Keith's!" Rhythmi recognizes it too. "Let's go check!"

We head down the stairs and sees Keith cornering a suspicious man.

"Keith?!" Rhythmi exclaims. "What are you doing here? And who is that man?"

"Guys!" He says, noticing us, then points to the man. "He's the one that stole all the stylers in the staff room! I saw him lurking around so I chased after him!"

"S-s-stay away f-from m-me!" He stammers, running into a tree. Then a Slakoth drops onto him.

"AHHH!" He screams, running around. "Get it off me!"

"It's just a Slakoth." I state.

"It's trying to kill me!"

Rhythmi sighs. "Someone should get that Slakoth of him so he can explain."

"Why would we even help a guy like him?" Keith complains. Rhythmi pulls on Keith's ears.

"Because a ranger's job is to help everyone in need!" She replies, after wrestling Keith to the ground.

She asks Kellyn and I, but I kinda spaced out again. Kellyn sighs.

"I'll do it." He takes out his styler and aims it at the running target.

"Capture on!" He releases his dics and guides it to the moving Slakoth, slashing movements made and a solid circle appears around Slakoth then closes in on it in a flash on light.

"Capture complete." He clicks this styler close as the disc is returned to him. I'm amazed that he could capture so calmly with a fast moving target, that is, the man is frantically running around. Slakoth calms down and lets go of the man then going back up the tree, very slowly. We then surround the man so he has no where to go.

"So." Keith clenches his fist and hit his palm in front of him. "Start talking."

"What's going on?" A voice asks. We look around to see Ms. April.

"You all disappeared so I got worried." Ms. April says, a little upset. "Oh, Keith! And...the stylers!"

"Sorry Ms. April, we found who stole them!" Rhythmi says, pointing to the made who is shaking in fear.

"Why _did _you steal them?" Keith ask the man looking menacingly at him. He starts explaining how he had always dream of being a Pokemon Ranger but he never had the chance to make it come true along with others he want to do but never accomplished. Then he explains how he couldn't resist the stylers in the staff room, thinking that if he had one then he can become a ranger. Ms. April is both shocked and angry at his words.

"If you have a dream then you shouldn't let go of it!" She says. "You should go home and reflect on your actions! And think how you could become a ranger properly?"

"Y-y-you're l-letting me g-go?!" He says, startled. "W-without any p-punishment?! I-I can't b-believe it...t-thank y-you" He snivels.

"Come," Ms. April says, after seeing the man off. "We'll explain what had happened."

We follow her to the staff room and explain to both Principle Lemont and Mr. Kincaid.

"Ah! So that is what happened it the place of my absence!" The Principle exclaims. "I'm relieved that no one gotten hurt!"

"So Mr. Kincaid," Ms. April turns to the grumbling Mr. Kincaid. "It looks like your suspicion is wrong."

Then she turns to us. "Anyways, I am impressed by Rhythmi's belief and trust in her friend! That is one of the essential qualities of an operator!"

"Yeah Rhythmi! Thanks for believing in me!" Keith grins

Rhythmi blushes slightly at the compliments.

"And Kellyn, your teamwork and capture performance was outstanding!" Ms. April smiles. "I can tell right away with that smile on Slakoth's face!"

"Thank you Ms. April." Kellyn says.

"And Keith." She turns to him. "You are too reckless and must rely more on your colleagues. There is only much that a Ranger can do alone."

Keith grumbles and looks down.

"That said, you did do a good deed...Are you paying attention?"

"Yes..." He mutters.

"How will you be part of the Poke-Athlon at this rate..."

"What?" We look at Ms. April with confusion, except Kellyn, he's calm about everything.

"Every year there will be a Poke-Athlon event where Ranger Schools from far and wide compete in." Ms. April explains. "This year, it is our turn to host it and it will be in the Vien Forest. And I hoped that you guys will participate."

"Re-really?!" Keith exclaims out of excitement.

"Of course, I will explain more tomorrow in class."

Principle Lemont then rambles on us about darkness lurking in our hearts and that we shine brightly today and we must never lose that light.

"Okay, it's for us to get back to class." Ms. April states.

_Yeah...they all shone brightly..._I look as my three friends start walking. _I didn't do anything..._

I look down and clench my hands into fists.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Whuh?" I look up to see Kellyn next to me. "Y-yeah...I'm fine!"

I give him a fake smile.

I wrote down the event today and gives it to Pelipper at the window. I receive her reply from last time and it made me happy. My family is moving to the Almia Region soon! They just need to find a house.

* * *

**Kate**

Next morning, I woke up, tired.

"Good morning Kate!" Rhythmi greets, sticking her head down to her bunk to mine.

"Morning!" I wave. I tied my hair back to the usual spiky twin tails and we head down for class. We start off with the usual good mornings to Ms. April.

"Class, this year, our school will be hosting the Poke-Athlon!"

"Poke-Athlon?"

"Really?"

"Awesome!"

"This event has been hosted by different schools every year and this year, it is our turn." Ms. April explains. "It will be a team effort." She looks sternly at Keith. "But only three students per school are allowed to enter."

"Only three?" One of the students asks.

"Yes, the staff will have to decide who will go by having a test for all the students but it will be an obstacle course." Ms. April says assuring that it is not a written test.

The class whispers in excitement.

"It will be in a week or two and the place is going to be Vien Forest." Ms. April informs. "So you will have time to train, however, keep in mind that there will be other schools participating as well."

The Poke-Athlon is now the talk of the entire school. In a few days, the test takes place outside.

"Alright everyone!" Principle says into a microphone. "This will be the course in which you will be tested in."

He shows us the course containing tracks, obstacles, and cliffs. "We will be timing each students who wish to participate and select the three fastest to enter the Poke-Athlon!" All the students cheers and then prepares at the starting line. We step onto the line as well and finish as Keylln as first, Keith as second, and me as third.

"Okay everyone!" Principle Lemont announces." The three students are Kellyn, Keith, and Kate!"

"Alright!" Keith fist pumps the air.

"Congratulations! I knew you guys would make it!." She held out three badges with the school crest. "You will wear these during the competition to let everyone know that you are representing our school!"

"Thanks Ms. April!" We said together and take one badge each.

"Can't wait to see you guys!" Rhythmi exclaims.

"Remember, it will be next week so be prepare! we will be watching you guys from afar." She smiles.

"We will!"


	5. Chapter 5 - Pokeathlon

Chapter 5 - Pokeathlon

* * *

"Hello everyone! I am Lilian and I will be announcing during the Poke-Athlon!" The lady says into a microphone in front of the camera. Fireworks are displayed into the air. "As you know, it's time for the annual Poke-Athlon between Ranger Schools! And again, it will be broadcast, region wide!"

"Wait what?!" I said, startled as I listen to Lilian explain, there is a screen behind her.

"You didn't know?" Rhythmi shows me one of the pamphlets.

"O-oh..." I sweatdrop after reading it. "And we have to finish with everyone in the team present?"

"Yep!" Rhythmi replies.

"Well...never heard that before." I said blankly.

"So, you ready?" A familiar voice asks from behind.

"Yeah." We look to see Keith and Kellyn walking towards us, wearing the school crest as well.

"We'll begin shortly!" Lilian announces.

"Looks like it's about to start!" Keith grins.

"This will be a round trip around Vein Forest. Each school teams will stop at three check points while overcoming obstacles. In each check points, there will be someone giving you a stamp on your card that each team should've receive upon entering. Upon the third and last check point, you will receive a crest each in exchange for the stamped card. Bring that back to the finish. " Lilian explains. "Make sure to not get lost though or it won't be easy to find your way back! Student Rangers may capture pokemon along the way to assist them to their goals. Everyone on the team must be present upon finishing. Cameras will be following them high in the air so that we can observe the students' actions and safety!"

I gulp when she said there will be cameras.

"It will be over once everyone have safely come back to the finish line and remember, violence among each other are prohibited." Lilian says. "Let's have the participants head over to the starting point!"

The camera directs to the starting point and so did the screen. I start to get nervous.

"Don't worry, you will be too focus on the goal to be distracted by cameras!" Rhythmi comforts. "I'll be watching from here!"

"I guess." I said and wave goodbye as we head for the starting point.

"Are you guys ready?" Ms. April is the one starting this course. "On the whistle, one, two..."

She blows the whistle loudly to signal start.

"EAT OUR DUST!" Keith screams at loud as he and Kellyn were the first to take off. I had a rocky start as everyone sprints quickly, leaving dust for me to cough in.

"KEITH! KELLYN! WAIT!" I call from the dust with a hint of exasperation then sprint to catch up to them. I catch up then sees some Tauros grazing on grass.

"Let's get help from Tauros to make things go faster!" Keith calls out, we all nod.

"Capture on!" I guide my disc, while running, to encircling one of the Tauros. I made movement of slashes and my disc creates a solid circle. Making circles and more slashes, the circle encases Tauros in a flash of light.

"Capture complete!" I return the disc and click it into the styler. "Tauros!"

Tauros hears my my call and runs to me.

"Let's go Tauros!" It dashes in the direction I guide it to. The four of us got to the first check point in the matter of minutes and hop off.

"Thanks Tauros!" It smiles and leaves.

We head to the man behind the booth. He gives us a pokeathlon stamp on our card.

"Alright! Next one!" Keith exclaims and we're off again, deeper into the forest.

"WAH!" I called suddenly after the ground below my feet turns into a hole

"Kate?" Keith and Kellyn said together.

"Why is there a hole in the middle of no where?!" I shout.

"Wow, I can't believe you fell for that!" Keith laughs. "are you an idiot or what?"

"..." My eye twitched. _I'll kill him when I get the chance._

"Hold on." Kellyn replies then leaves and comes back with a Bulbasaur and pull me out using vine whip.

"Thanks!" I said after getting out and we continue on.

"WOAH!"

"Keith?" Kellyn and I look around to see another hole. We sweatdrop.

"So who's the idiot now?" I deadpan.

"Just get me out of here!" Keith shouts. Lucky, Bulbasaur is still with us so we got Keith out quickly.

"Man! That hurts!" Keith exclaims, rubbing his behind.

"We'll have to be careful from now on." I said. The other two nod then we continue on our path. After dodging falling boulders - seriously isn't this dangerous for a student?! - falling into more holes, and calming down some angry pokemon, we got to our next check point...near a really high cliff, a straight path, and a twisty path.

"I hope..." Dark vertical lines appear under my eyes. "We don't have to climb _that?_"

"Okay, let's take a shortcut!" Keith says.

"S-Shortcut...?" I repeat, my eyes become dots.

"It's already late in the day so we need to hurry." Keith points to the cliff that I was looking at. "We'll climb that!"

"Are you serious?!" I exclaim. The two already started heading towards it.

"What do you think Kellyn?" Keith asks.

"Better than taking the scenic path of trees." He replies. I sweatdrop.

"You guys are either blockheads or just crazy." I mutter to myself.

"Then let's go!" Keith grins and then set off towards the cliff.

"G-guys!" I yelled. "Guess I'll have to follow..."

I drag myself to them then notice they are staring at something.

"What are you guys looking at?"

"Our ride." Kellyn answers.

"Huh?" I stare at the ground as it moves and out pops Dugtrios.

"AHH!" I yelp, falling back.

"This is gonna make it so much easier." Keith smirks. "Let's capture them!"

We nod.

"Capture on!" I guide my disc to one of them, encircling them. Making circular and slash movements, the disc forms the solid circle and encase them in a flash of light. "Capture complete!"

We hold onto the Dugtrios and they use rock climb. Once we got up , we thanked Dugtrio for the lift. From the top, we saw a beautiful landscape.

"So pretty!" I said, amazed.

"No time for sightseeing! Let's get going!" Keith says.

"Can't we rest for just a bit?" I ask.

"No. It will be a great time to leave everyone else far behind!" Keith replies, pointing to the people down the way we came as they make it to the second check point. Finding no way to argue with these guys, we head into the forest anyways, hoping down one ledge then another. We were slide down a deep one when I notice a movement but before I can react, something flashes at our way.

"Look out!" I push Kellyn away and take the hit

"AH!" It was a pokemon attack and it hits me, making me tumble down and down.

"KATE! KELLYN" I heard Keith scream but it gets more and more distant.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!" I yelp as I tumble down through thorn bushes but before I see a boulder that I'm going to make contact with, someone grabs hold of me. I take hold of the person tightly as we slide down to a stop.

"Uhhmmm..." This time it wasn't just Torchics running around but Spearows as well. I was just so dizzy from the tumbling then I open one of my eyes.

"How long are you going to hold onto me?" A familiar voice asks. I open the other eye and look up to see Kellyn. Realizing I was holding onto him, I turn red and let go.

"Waahhhh!" I let go and swing my arms up and down before falling down. "K-K-Kellyn?!"

"Who else would I be?"

"T-thanks." I said. "But how did you get here?"

"What were you thinking when you did that?" He frowns, ignoring my question.

"Heh...?" I said blankly.

"Nevermind." He turns away. "Just don't do it again."

"What...?" I use one of my knee to push myself up, my entire body aches in pain. "Ow..."

"Did you sense that?" Kellyn asks. I did, it's that weird vibe I got in the basement a while ago.

We look around, and red eyes stare back at me. I gulp as something comes out of the shadows.

"Dus dusk." It says in monotone. Okay, so I know Dusknoir have red eyes but this red is different than normal, there doesn't seem to be any life in them and they shouldn't be out in the day...this is weird.

"H-hi..." I greet hoping it's friendly...Not. It blasts me with a shadow ball.

"GAH!" I jump out of the way but didn't land on my feet, instead, I faceplant on the ground.

"Kate!"

"I'm fine." I stand back up and aim my styler at it.

"Capture on!" I let my disc fly out and heading to the Dusknoir. I make slash movements to make the disc create a solid ring around Dusknoir but...nope. It disappears and suddenly appear behind and hits me with one of its other attacks. I fell from the hit, lost my concentration on the disc, and the solid ring disappears.

"Tch." I tried again, sending the disc back at Dusknoir but it disappears and hits me again. I back flip to avoid getting hit but it the process that the solid ring made disappears again. I got annoyed as I tried again but this time, Dusknoir uses one of its attack _at_ the ring my disc made.

"Argh!" I felt an electric current surging up the styler and it goes on the fritz. Dropping it, I watch as it breaks.

"..."

"Kate!"

"Huh?" The familiar voice rings through my ears. I look up to see the Dusknoir firing up a thunderpunch at me. Kellyn steps in front of me and blocked it with his arms.

"Don't just stand there!" He shouts, managing to push the Dusknoir back. The pokemon is about to come at us again.

BOOM!

"What's go-Argh..." I drop down, holding onto my arm. In a distance, I can see smoke but no fire. The Dusknoir in front of us stops, and its eyes go back to normal.

"Dusk? Dusknoir?" It says, looking around, confused then teleports away.

"Are you okay?" Kellyn comes and knee down to me.

"Um..." I tried to find an answer but I couldn't. I look around and spot my styler, broken.

_How did that happen...?_

"Um yeah. I'm fine." I reply. _Do I have some kind of short memory disorder?_

He looks at me then pats my head. "You better not be lying."

"I'm not." I said. Maybe. "Is your arm okay?"

"Yeah." He then head over to pick my broken styler up and gets working on the it. I watch tensely as he does that. He fixes it quick.

"Wow! I get it now!"

He looks at me with one eyebrow raised.

"S-sorry, remember the other time that you had to fix the styler for me?, I wanted to know how it works so I tinkered with them." I said, scratching the back of my head. "But like other things, I break them upon first attempt."

"So that's how you broke it the first time?"

"Eheheh..." I reply, sticking a but of tongue out.

"Here." Kellyn hands me the repaired styler.

"Thanks!" I take it from his hands.

"Well, at least when I tinker with things, I don't end up breaking them." Kellyn teases.

"You didn't have to say that, Mr. Genius." I pout. He chuckles.

"Ow!" I suddenly realize how much pain I'm in.

"And you really just realized you're in pain?"

"Whatever!" I turn my head away and pout.

"Anyways if you can walk then let's not waste anymore time." Kellyn changes the subject.

I stare up at him before giving an answer. "What about Keith?"

"I told Keith to catch up and if he doesn't see us then he'll continue on."

"But it's getting dark...isn't he going to get scared?"

He puts a hand on his chin. "You do have a point..."

* * *

**Keith**

The sun's setting, that means...it's going to be dark.

"Oh boy..." I said nervously "I gotta catch up to those guys."

* * *

**Kate**

We went into a cave then a flock of Zubats and Golbats suddenly flew in our direction. Kellyn put a hand in front on him but I tensed up but didn't yell or do anything. After they pass, Kellyn takes his hand away from his face.

"Are you okay?" He asks, seeing me all stiff with widen eyes.

"Yeah..." I said, shaken then take a deep breath and relax. "But I been better."

"At least you were better than the first time."

We had to calm down some pokemon by capturing them since we disturbed their sleep. Then, somehow, we got onto a narrow path way and have to walk sideways to prevent falling into the abyss below.

"Who was the crazy one who came up with a course like this?!" I mutter. "Isn't it a bit _too_ dangerous for students to take on?!"

I wasn't careful enough and the rock under my foot crumbles.

"WAH!" I yelp as I begin to fall but I didn't. I look up to see that Kellyn had grabbed my wrist then proceeds to pull me up.

"T-too close for comfort!" I gasp. "Thanks Kellyn!"

_This is more of a survival course..._

"Be careful of where you step." He caution, I nod. We finally got out of the cave after a while and it was morning already. We sit down against each others' back with one leg arching up, panting.

"I thought we would never get out!" I gasp.

"But we did." He replies back. "Look."

He points to across a lake to a booth though it is getting hard to see because night has come.

"Let's go then!" I said. We catch our breath then stands up. We head over to the lake, looking around to see if there is a pokemon that can help. Moments later, we spot two Floatzels.

"Capture on!" We sent out our discs and encircling one each until a flash of light signals the completion of capture. The Floatzels await us in the water. We climb onto the Floatzels' backs and they sped us across. Arriving across, we thanked the Floatzels and wave as they leave.

"GUYS!" We turn around to see Keith across the lake. I wave back, "Keith!"

"Told you he would." Kellyn says putting a hand on his waist. We wait till he got to us then head over to get our last stamp and the pokeathlon crests.

"So how were you and the cave?' I ask bluntly while walking. Keith flinches.

"Easy peasy!" He says nervously. I got the feeling that he's lying. We got the crests from the last check point.

"Alright!" Keith fistpumps. "Let's get back ASAP!"

"Easier said than done." I sigh. "Do you know how long it took us to get here? It's already nighttime"

"So?" Keith answers. I smack him on the head with a huge paper fan -don't ask how I got that, even I don't know-

"Will you at least have the decency to think in this situation?" I growl. Someone taps my shoulder and I whirl around to see Kellyn pointing left. I look in that direction and spotted some flying types perched on some trees.

"We should've just flown here..." I sweatdrop.

"What would be the fun of that?" Kellyn asks.

"...Blockheads." I mutter under my breath.

"Anyways, let's capture them." The three of us nod, launching our stylers into the sky. We capture three Swellows, hang onto their talons, and they gave us a lift back. As we got closer back, we say Ms. April and Rhythmi waving at us from below, I wave back. Once we land, we thanked the Swellows for the lift.

"Kate!" Rhythmi tackle hug me. "You guys did it!"

"We won?" Keith asks, waking towards us.

"No." Ms. April answers which made Keith trip and fall.

"WHHAAAA?!"

"...Unless you show me that you have acquire the crests." Ms. April giggles.

"Oh right!" The three of us hand her the Poke-Athlon crests.

"Let me be the first to congratulate you guys for winning as Representatives of Almia's Ranger School!" Ms. April smiles.

"Congratulations!" Rhythmi smiles.

...

**In the girls dorm**

I flop onto the bottom bunk bed. "I'm so tired!"

"So...What do you think of Keith and Kellyn after pairing up with them?"

I put an arm in front of my face to cover the light from the dorm.

"They're..." Looking back at the race. "Okay but blockheads."

"What?" Rhythmi asks blankly.

"Nevermind." I waved it off.

"What's your thought on Keith?"

"Blockhead."

"Oh? How about Kellyn then?" She continues on inquiring me.

"Kinda of a blockhead and what are you getting at?"

She roll her eyes. "Who do you like?"

It took a moment for me to process that and bolt up.

THUMP!

"Ow!" I bump my head onto the wood frame of the top bunk. I rub my head as a few tears surround my eyes.

"W-what are you talking about?!"

"Hm...maybe Kellyn...?" She says, tapping a finger on her cheek. "You two have been talking a lot...even though he's the silent type."

"N-no!" I exclaim, blushing slightly.

"I see, still not ready to admit it." Rhythmi states calmly.

I flop back onto bed and turn away from her. "I'm going to sleep."

Though that conversation kept me awake all night but also because I forgot to write to my little sister, I bolt up realizing it then get straight to writing.


	6. Chapter 6 - School days end

Chapter 6 - School days end

* * *

**A Week later**

"Kate!" Someone shouts. "Kate!"

"Whuh?" I rub my sleepy eyes and see Rhythmi.

"Wake up! Don't you know what today is?"

"Today...?" I said absentmindedly. "Oh yeah! The one day internship!"

"Yep, so hurry and get ready!" Rhythmi says.

...

"What took you guys so long!" Keith shouts when we were outside in the school yard.

"Impatient as ever." I sigh.

"We're going to be late if we don't hurry." Kellyn states.

"Fine, Fine." I huff and we head out of the gate.

"Who's that?" Keith point once we arrived at the bridge and see a little girl looking frantically around.

"Let's check it out." I said and we head over there. She have blonde hair like Rhythmi and wears a purple top with a red skirt.

"Are you lost?" I knee down to her level.

"I-I-I c-came t-to v-v-visit my b-big brother b-but I don't know w-where he is!" She stammers with teary eyes. The four of us look at each other.

"Who's you brother?" Rhythmi asks soothingly.

"Melody?" A voice says behind us. We whirl around to see Isaac and Ponte.

"Isaac?" Rhythmi says. "Ponte? You know this girl?"

"BIG BROTHER!" The little girl tackle hugs Isaac. The blonde boy is taken by surprise but returns with a warming hug.

"I wanted to visit you but mommy and daddy were never home so I came here myself!" The little girl cries.

_She reminds me of my little sister._

"I know you mean well but it makes me worry that you might get hurt." He says and turns to us. "Guys, this is my sister, Melody."

"Hello!" The little girl pipe after calming down.

"Melody, these are my friends: Keith, Rhythmi, Kate, Kellyn, and Ponte."

Each of us greet her one at a time.

"It's great to know that big brother have so many friends!"

"C'mon, let's get you home, my one day internship is close to there as well."

"Okay!"

We wave good bye to the three.

"Oh shoot!" Keith suddenly shouts. "If we stay here any longer, we're gonna be late to our internships!"

"You're right!" Rhythmi and I exclaim.

"I'm going to interning at the Ranger Union so I better get going!" Rhythmi starts to run then wave back to us. "I'll see you guys later!"

"See you Rhythmi!" We wave to her then I turn to the two that's left. "Where to?"

"We'll be at Vientown's Ranger Base." Kellyn answers.

"Let's go, let's go!" Keith exclaims. "I don't want to make a bad impression by being late!"

The three of us dashes off and somehow made it a race.

"I win!" I cheer as we got to Vientown.

"I want a rematch." Keith crosses his arms, he came in last place.

"Let's not waste time on that." Kellyn points to a building with a ranger sign on it. "We can't be late, remember?"

Keith grumbles and we enter through the sliding door. It...was empty...

"Helllooo~ Anybody there?" Keith shouts.

"Ah sorry!" Someone answers, which made me jump.

"I was picking something up so I didn't see you come in." A lady springs up front the counter. "Hello, you must be students from the one day internship!"

We nod.

"Come over here, I have something I have to give you three." We obey then she hands us a letter and a...basket?

"Sorry that the base is so empty right now, everyone is doing something important."

"What's in the basket?" Keith says, looking at it from all sides and ignoring her.

"Must relly important to be this empty." I said. The lady fights hard to not laugh.

"Y-yeah...I-I-I...ca-can't even force myself to describe it!"

"O...kay...?" I reply.

"Anyways, the letter is from the base leader, Barlow, and he has entrusted you three to go on an important mission."

"R-really?" Keith says, fully paying attention. I take the letter from Keith's hand and open it.

"You've collected the item from me, now you'll just have to go to Breezy Hill."

"Yep, that's what it says." I comment, after reading the letter. "I guess we should go."

"YES!" Keith exclaims.

"Miss, could you tell which way is Breezy Hill?" I ask.

"Go out and head west of Vientown, there will be a beach, head up from there and keep going until you get to a cliff."

"Thanks-wait what?" I widen my eyes. " A cliff?!"

"C'mon Kate! we're going!" Keith pulls on the scuffs of my uniform.

"But-!"

"Good luck!" The lady waves. "Oh, about the basket: don't look in it, don't swing it, and don't drop it!"

_Is there something dangerous in that thing? _I cry inwardly. Are we going to die?_  
_

...

"Wow~!" My eyes sparkled. "So this is a beach!"

"You...never been to a beach?" Kellyn asks, looking at me with bewilderment.

"Uh..." I grin sheepishly. "Nope."

Kellyn and I stand side by side, with me fascinated by being at the beach. I then notice a couple and I made a startle jump.

"Something wrong?"

"Nope! Absolutely not!" I exclaim, burning bright red.

"GUYS! LET'S GO!" Keith screams from afar, swinging the basket around. "WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"

"S-sorry!" I yelp and dash for the stairs. We passed by an elderly with three pokemon playing with each other then see a sign that marks Breezy Hill.

"Must be it." Kellyn states.

"I wonder what kinda mission it is!" Keith exclaims.

_I just hope it doesn't involve us dying... _I panic inwardly thinking about the cliff. Once we arrive at the top, nothing is there except for...a picnic blanket?

"What are we supposed to do now?" I ask.

"Don't know, you're the one that read the letter." Keith answer.

"But that's all it said!" I exclaim. Suddenly, we heard rustling.

"W-what's that?" I squeak. _Please don't be a monster, please don't be a monster, please don't be a monster!_

"Probably some wild pokemon." Keith replies calmly, with his hands behind his head. Suddenly, I feel a presence behind me and I shiver. I whirl around on reflex-probably- punching the figure up from the chin and knocking him with a THUMP onto the ground.

"LEADER!" There seems to be about three other voices. I felt a hand on my wrist, I look over my shoulder.

"Calm down."

"Kellyn?" I snapped out from whatever I was doing then look at the huge man knocked out on the ground. "What happened to him?"

"...Well...you did _not _just him up into air." Keith deadpans. I blinked then starts panicking.

"I-I-I"M SOO SORRY!" I bow repeatedly as he his helped up by people in ranger uniform.

"Birdies..." The man say airily.

"Wow. I didn't know a girl can do that to Barlow." A familiar voice states. We look closely to see- "Crawford?"

"Yo!" He raises his hand is greetings.

"I...did not see that coming..." The huge man groan, standing up with the support of two others.

"I-I'm so sorry!" I exclaim.

"It's fine! Barlow have sustain heavier hits than that!" A lady in ranger uniform replies. "It was just unexpected!"

"Guys, this is Luana." Crawford introduces. "The one you just hit is Barlow, he's our base leader, and the other one helping him is Eliane, though she's a Mechanic, not Ranger."

They all took turns greeting.

"I'm Keith, hellomeetcha." Keith says nervously and we all stare at him.

"Did you just say...hellomeetcha?" Crawford asks.

"Hahahah! No need to be so nervous!" Barlow chuckles. "And you two?"

"Whuh?" I was spacing out again.

"She's Kate and I'm Kellyn." Kellyn answer for me.

"So it's the triple K's!" Luana giggles.

"So...what's this about an important mission?" Keith says, leading us back to topic.

"Oh yeah, did you three bring the item?" Barlow asks. Keith hands him the basket.

"Alrighty everyone! Time for lunch!"

We all stare at them with shock.

"You should see your faces!" Barlow laughs and proceed to open the baskets. The Ranger team have dark vertical lines appear on their heads. Barlow trembles with the basket in his hands.

"Boy...Mine wasn't as bad as this..." Luana states.

"Did...you guys...did _this?_" Barlow asks darkly.

"Uh...s-sorry...t-that was my fault..." Keith raises a nervous hand. Just when I thought Barlow is about to explode, someone came running shouting at us, it's the guy of the couple that I saw.

"Pokemon Rangers! Please help! We have an emergency!"

"What's the problem?" Barlow asks.

"Pokemon...! On the beach...!" The guy panics about.

"That's all we need to know." Barlow states. "Alright team! Emergency situation erupted so let's get into action!"

They did their poses and said, "Roger!"

"You three, come as well!"

"Y-yes sir!" Keith answers and we followed them down.

...

"H-H-HEEELLLPPPPP!" The lady who is surrounded by pokemon screams.

"Oh dear, oh dear! What has happened to Munchlax, Starly, and Pachirisu!" The elderly man we passed by ealier exclaims in worry. "They never acted like this!"

"Well...there's a first time for everything." I murmur under my breath.

"Alright team, since there are six pokemon, we'll take on one each so that it'll be faster!" Barlow commands. "So that means you three as well!"

"Awsome!" Keith fistpumps into the air and sprints into action.

"Keith!" I called from behind. Barlow chuckles.

"Can't wait to get into action eh?" He turns to us. "Let's go!"

Everyone in the group except Eliane went to help.

"I'll stay here since I can't really do anything!" Eliane calls from the back. Once I got down onto the beach, I notice a mud bomb shooting straight at a Pachirisu.

"Look out!" I swing myself at the electric type pokemon, I tumble onto on knee, nearly dodging the attack with Pachirisu in my arms. Of course, the pokemon is startled by all this and electrocute me.

"YOOOWWWWW!" I screech, letting Pachirisu go. It crouch on all four, shaking from shock and confusion but glares at me. I take out my school styler.

"Capture on!" I control the disc to loop around the confused Pachirisu until a solid ring appears and encases it in a flash of light. "Capture complete!"

I click close my styler and walk closer to Pachirisu. "Don't be afraid, I'm just trying to help."

"Chupa!" Pachirisu nods happily and hop up to hug me. I laugh. "You're so cute!"

I look back to see everyone else had finish as well. Barlow, Crawford, and Luana caught a Shellos each, Keith caught Munchlax, and Kellyn caught Starly.

"Looks like everyone had calm down the pokemon!" Barlow says. "So time to release them!"

"Time for you to go back to your friends!" I chirp.

"Chupa..." Pachirisu looks sad and stays by me.

"Huh?" I stare at Pachirisu.

"What's wrong Kate?" Barlow asks. "Did you not learn how to release a pokemon?"

"N-no...! I do but this Pachirisu wouldn't go!" I answer, waving my hands in front of me.

"Looks like Pachirisu had taken a liking to you!" Crawford says.

"Huh?" I look at Crawford.

"Thank you so much for saving my girlfriend!" The guy thanked, interrupting us.

"Yes, thank you so much!" The lady bows.

"It's no problem, after all, it is our job!" Barlow answers.

"The pokemon roused up when so cargo from a cargo ship smash onto shore!" The lady explains.

"Munchlax, Starly, Pachirisu!" The elderly man exclaims. "Thank you so much for calming them down!"

"Not at all!" Barlow turns to us. "You three did pretty good as well!"

"Thanks!" Keith grins.

"I'm sure you will become fine Pokemon Rangers!" Crawford smiles.

"But." Barlow sates. "You guys failed in your mission to deliver the basket safely to us."

Us three sweatdrop.

"Did our Operator _not _tell you to: don't open it, swing it, or drop it?"

"Erm..." I remember back to when she says that. "Yeah..."

"Really?" Keith looks at me. "I didn't hear a thing."

"That's because you were already out the door with the basket by the time she says that." Kellyn sighs.

"Oh..." Keith's face turns red.

"Hahahah! It's fine!" Barlow laughs, slapping Keith on the back of his head so hard that he faceplanted on the sand. "Anyways, let's clean up after our 'lunch' and go back to base."

Barlow is about to head out but stops. "You three can go back to the base without us even though you ruined our prank."

Keith smiles sheepishly. "T-thanks."

...

We talked a little with the Ranger team in the base before heading out. As we were about to cross the bridge, we heard Rhythmi's voice.

"Hey! Wannabe Rangers!" We turn around to see Rhythmi coming towards us. We exchange the stories of our one day internship with each other and head back to school.

Rhythmi's POV

Kate and Kellyn walk ahead of us so I tug at Keith and whispers to him.

"Don't you think they look pretty cute together?"

"Eh sure." Keith replies halfheartedly which kinda annoys me.

"What are you guys whispering about?" Kate leans over to us.

"N-nothing?"

"You guys are acting like a couple." Kate teases. Keith and I fall down then bolt up.

"WE DO NOT!"

Kate giggles. "You guys are so in sync!"

"Let's go already." Kellyn says at the front gate.

* * *

**Graduation day**

"Class, this will be the last time that we will be in this class together!" Ms. April shows us a sad smile then beams at us. "But I'm happy to have you all as my students and hope that you will all continue to aim for your dreams!"

"WE WILL!" We exclaim, except Kellyn who is bored as usual.

"You have until the bell rings to chat or take a look at the school before the graduation ceremony." With that, everyone separated and did there own things. I decided to walk around, taking a look at the school.

"I'm going to miss them..." I murmur as I thought about Rhythmi, Kellyn, and Keith. We're all going to different places after this..._Maybe I should be spending time with them right now..._

I wasn't paying attention to where I'm going so I accidentally bump into someone's back and fell on my bottom.

"Ow..." I wince then look around to see that I somehow manage to get out into the school yard.

"Hey Kate."

"Huh?" I look up and see Kellyn. He has a mix of blank and startle expression.

"You need any help?" He lends me a hand to help me up.

"T-thanks." I let go after and brush dust off my clothes. "What are you doing out here?"

"Just looking." He answers. "You?"

"Uh...I wasn't paying attention while walking inside..." I turn pink then see him crack a smile.

"Typical." He chuckles.

"H-hey!" I pout. He puts a hand on my head.

"I'm sure the four of us will see each other again." He says as if reading my mind.

"Are you a mind reader?" I blurt out without thinking.

"There you guys are!" I turn attention to see both Rhythmi and Keith.

"Guys! I was going to look for you!" I exclaim.

"Were you really?" Rhythmi gives me a sly grin.

"Y-yeah..." I moved back a little as Rhythmi leans in.

DING-DONG DING-DONG!

I sigh in relief, _saved by the bell._

"Let's get going!" Keith says.

We head inside and filed up for the graduation ceremony. Issac, the valedictorian, gave his speech to the class.

"Thank you for the wonderful speech Isaac! Now onto the conferring on the graduation certificates." The principle says.

"I would like to call upon a student as representative of the graduating class." Ms. April smiles. "Kate!"

"M-me?!" I said, startled.

"Whoa! I can't believe it's you and not Kellyn!" Keith says, a little surprise. Rhythmi elbows him in the ribs and he winces at the pain.

"Please step forward." Ms. April says and I obey though I'm a little nervous.

CRASH!

The ground shakes violently, causing me to fall.

"W-what was that?" The students clamor beginning to panic.

"I-I'll go look!" Mr. Kincaid said, heading down the basement with a look of urgency. I got up and exchange looks of confusion with my friends.

"TANG! TANG!" An angry voice exclaims. We all look to where the voice came from and out comes two huge Tangrowths, both looking perturbed.

"Everyone! Stay back!" Ms. April says and we all move back as the Tangrowth approaches closer. I notice a Pichu cowering behind the Tangrowths and the huge pokemon slowly turns it attention to it.

"Pichu!" I exclaim, without thinking, I sprint straight across them and dive at the scared electric mouse as the Tangrowth prepares an attack. I tumble onto my knee, barely getting out with Pichu in my arms. _This feels like Deja Vu._

I look over my shoulder to see one Tangrowths swinging their arms at me while the other one is terrorizing the others. I close my eyes awaiting the hit but it never came.

"Ngh...I fear for your future."

"Huh?" I open my eyes and look up someone blocking the Tangrowths' arms with his arm. "Kellyn!?"

Kellyn pushes Tangrowth's arm away-he must be strong- "Keith, we need to calm them down!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Keith calls from afar. Both takes out their styler and aim in at the Tangrowths.

"Capture on!" The discs were sent out simultaneously, they loop around till a solid appears and encases both in a flash of light, one after the other.

"Capture complete." Kelyn clicks his styler close then Keith finishes his capture.

"What were you thinking?" Kellyn looks upset.

"Um..." I look down and let Pichu go. "I wasn't"

"You know, you could've gotten hurt!"

"I'm sorry!" I straighten as he suddenly yell at me. _This isn't like him at all!_

"Don't worry about him!" Keith says as he and Rhythmi comes up to us. "He's just worry!"

"If that's worry then what is he like when he's mad?" I ask with furrow brows. _So I still need to learn about their personalities..._

"Uh...you don't wanna know..." Keith shivers.

"But you should really listen to Kellyn, you could've gotten hurt." Rhythmi says, her hands on her hip.

"Eheheh..." I laugh sheepishly. Keith pats Kellyn on the shoulders though he is still a little upset. Rhythmi pulls me to her.

"You sure you don't like him?" She whispers. My face turns red.

"Will you stop?!" I squeak, hair standing on end. Rhythmi giggles.

"I'm pretty sure he-"

"Kellyn, Keith, thank you for saving the school from that disaster!" Ms. April and the others head our way as they are relieved from the shock. "You're capture performance was terrific!"

Ms. April turns to me. "And Kate, you have the heart of a ranger when you sacrifice your own safety for the pokemon."

"Pii! Pichu!" Pichu exclaims, thanking me. I smile at it. "You're welcome!"

The graduation ceremony proceeded as normal after. Keith, Rhythmi, Kellyn and I took a picture together at the end. Hey, at least I won't forget their faces now.


	7. Chapter 7 - On the Job

Chapter 7 - On the Job

* * *

"BIG SIS! WAKE UP!"

"AH!" I shriek as I bolt up and clumsily fell head first off my bed, pulling part of my blanket with me.

"Geez, You always act like this." A little girl squeak.

"W-what..?" I mutter absentmindedly. "W-where am I?"

"Mama's told me to wake you up." The blonde hair little girl with twin ponytails wearing a blue and white dress, long socks and blue shoes stood in front of me. "Breakfast is ready."

With that, she walks away and down a flight of stairs. I sit up, rubbing aching head. "...Mom? Breakfast? Sis?"

Then I remembered. My family came to pick me up from school and we went to our new home in...uh...can't remember the name...Chikeko Village? I look around the surrounding to see this is probably my new room. Then I look at myself to see that I'm still in my student uniform. I must've been too tired and lazy to take it off. I got up and stretched then head down the same flight of stairs that my sister took.

"Good morning sweetie." My mom greets cheerfully as I came down.

"Morning mom and dad." I greet.

"Morning Kate." Dad replies.

"How are you liking this house?" Mom asks.

"It's great." I reply. "I think it's better than the old one."

"It's a really convenience location, our farm is just right outside." Dad says.

"I got to name it!" My sister chirps. "It's called Partner Farm! Oh and you got a letter."

She hands me the letter.

"Thanks, Lila!" I smile and take it. I opened and read through the letter.

"What is it?"

"It's from the Ranger Union." I reply, still reading. "I been assigned where I'll be going."

"Already?" Mom asks.

"Mhm, and it says I have to go immediately."

Dad chuckles and pats my head. "We're very proud of you."

"Wow! I can't believe you're going to be a Ranger so soon!" My sister says excitingly. At this moment the door slams open.

"MORNING!" That greeting startled all of us. At the door is the lady ranger I meet on the one day internship thing. She seems excited.

"HIYA KATE!" She chirps. "Remember me? I'm Luana!"

"H-hi..." I reply nervously and confused.

"Buneary and I are going to escort you to our Ranger base!"

"Bun bun!" Buneary says cheerfully on Luana's shoulder.

"My my, that's really quick." Mom smiles.

"Oops! Sorry about the ruckus!" Luana apologizes.

"It's all good!" My sister chirps.

"Anyways, we have to go ASAP!" Luana takes a hold of my hand and drag me out of my house.

"Wah!" I exclaim. "B-bye mom, dad, sis!"

"See you later Kate!" I can see Lila waving enthusiastically.

...

We stand in front of Vien Town's Ranger Base with me being a little nervous.

"What are you waiting for! Let's go in!" Luana says, pushing me in. "Barlow! I got our new recruit!"

"Hey hey hey!" Someone I recognized as Crawford greets. I see Barlow Elaine and Crawford standing in front as we head in.

"Hey there Kate!" Barlow greets. "Congratulations on graduating and welcome aboard our team!"

"Judging from your expression, I bet Luana took you by surprise!" Crawford laughs.

"Y-yeah..." I laugh nervously. "She kinda...barged into my house with a loud greeting and pulled me here..."

"Eheheh..." Luana sticks out the tip of her tongue. Everyone except me and Luana laugh.

"Yeah, she can be too energetic at times." Barlow explains.

"Remember what happened when she was first assigned to this base?" Crawford tease. "She literally-"

"No one needs to be reminded of that!" Luana puts Crawford in a head lock to silence him with her face red.

"Anyways, you should change into a ranger uniform." Elaine says, handing a pair of clothes. "You can change in there."

"T-thanks." I reply, walking into the room that she was pointing at and changed out.

"That looks good on you!" Luana chirps as I came out wearing the red and white uniform.

"Now about today's lunch delivery..."

"Heh?!" I exclaim, surprised.

"Just kidding!" Crawford grins which deserves him a smack on the head by Luana.

"You'll have to get used to Crawford's jokes." Barlow says. "And to certified you as an official ranger , here's your capture styler!"

Barlow hands me a red styler. "Thanks!"

"Oi, I heard that the two friends that you were with are assigned bases in the Fiore region.

"That's...pretty far..." I said with disappointment.

"Don't worry, you'll get a chance to visit them!" Crawford reassures.

"Anyways." Barlow starts. "I'll assign you an easy mission for your first day and that is to join Crawford in delivering the Vien Tribune."

_How is that even a mission?_

"I'm usually the one that delivers them everyday by myself." Crawford comments. "So it'll be great to have some company."

"That way, you'll get to know the town and Chikeko Village." Barlow continues.

"Okay." I reply. Barlow then gives us a load of newspaper and we start our delivering route. We went to this house and that house all the while introducing myself to people and getting to know them.

"Next up is Mr. Woodward."

We head into a house full of wood and the smell of sawdust.

"Doesn't seem like anyone's here." i said, looking around.

"He's probably at Nabiki Beach." We hurry to the beach to fine Mr. Woodward watching the three pokemon we rescued back then playing together.

"Chupa!" Pachirisu jumps onto me happily.

"Whoa!" The took me by surprise and I fell backwards.

"Kate, are you okay?" Crawford asks out of concern.

"Yeah, I fine." I giggle as Pachirisu nuzzles me.

"Well well, will you look at that!" Mr. Woodward comes up to us. "That Pachirisu has been waiting for you!"

"Me?" I ask, sitting up with the pokemon in my arms.

"Pachirisu always comes to the beach as if waiting for someone and now I understand."

"I heard that sometimes when you meet someone on this beach, the two will become best of friends." Crawford says.

"Pachi pachi!" Pachirisu runs around me happily. I couldn't help but to giggle at the sight.

"Pachirisu seems to have taken quite the liking to you since back then." Mr. Woodward says. "Would you like to take her as your partner?"

"Partner?" I ask with a blank face.

"Every ranger are allow a pokemon partner that assists them." Crawford explains. "Its different from pokemon that are captured in that they stay with you forever."

"Chupa!" Pachirisu climbs onto my head and do little hops. I grab onto her and held Pachirisu in my hands facing me.

"Wanna tag along with me?" I ask with a smile. Pachirisu nods cheerfully.

"Oh right, Mr. Woodward, here's the daily Vien Tribune." Crawford hands the elderly man a copy.

"Ah thank you very much." Mr. Woodward thanked. "I always look forward to reading these."

We bid goodbye to Mr. Woodward, Munchlax, and Starly then head for Chikeko Village to deliver the remaining newspaper.

"Okay last one." Crawford points to my house.

"My house?"

"Yep."

"Mom, Dad, I'm back." I open the door to see that they're still in here.

"Welcome back Kate." Dad reply.

"Welcome back Kate!" My little sister chirps, hugging me.

"You look fantastic in those uniform!" Mom compliments which made me turn red.

"Thanks!"

"Aw! Who's this little pokemon?" Lila crouch down to look at Pachirisu.

"Chupa!" Pachirisu greets.

"She's so cute~!" My little sister squeals.

"This is my poke partner Pachir...Pachi!" I introduced. It's better to keep the name short.

"Hi there Pachi! Nice to meet you!" She cuddles with Pachi.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh um I'm helping Crawford deliver the Vien Tribune." I reply.

"That doesn't sound very much like what a ranger would do."

"It's my first day!" I pout. Crawford chuckles before handing my dad the last copy.

"So this is the Vien Tribune I have heard about." He says. "I'll look forward to reading it."

"We'll be going back the base then." Crawford states and I follow him out.

"Kate! Good luck being a ranger!" My little sister squeak from the house. I wave good bye to her.

"Your little sister sure is energetic." Crawford says.

"You should see her which she eats too many sweets."

...

"Crawford and Kate reporting back!" Crawford exclaims upon going into the base.

"Welcome back!" Luana chirps.

"Chupa!" Pachi runs around energetically.

"Well if it isn't the Pachirisu from that time!" Barlow says.

"Yep, apparently she's been waiting for Kate this whole time." Crawford explains.

"I take it that this Pachirisu became your partner?" Barlow asks.

"Mhm." I nod. "Guys, this is Pachi."

"Chu chupa!" Pachi hops up and down.

"She's so cute and full of energy!" Luana squeals, patting Pachi's head.

"Bun bun!" Buneary hops down from Luana's shoulder to greet Pachi. They seem to became friends already.

"Bu budew!"

"Maka!" The other pokemon came out to greet Pachi too.

"You gave her a name too huh." Barlow comments.

"Well...Pachirisu's kinda long to say...heheh." I scratch the back of my head.

"Anyways, good job on finishing your first mission." Barlow gives me a thumbs up. "You want to rest or explore a bit?"

"Um I'll explore a bit first." I reply. "Let's go Pachi!"

"Chupa!" Pachi climbs onto my shoulder as we head out. "I'll see you guys later!"

...

Next day went normal...kinda. Barlow put me through a course in Vien Forest to see how well I can do which ended with me dangling upside down on a cliff by a rope tied around my foot.

"Okay, I get the pit traps and the falling rocks but...YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS!"

Barlow and the others laugh their head off.

"Crawford was the one that thought it up!" Barlow wheeze between laughs.

"Hey!" Crawford argue between laughter. "You're the one that agreed with it say it's a great idea!"

"Sorry Kate but we couldn't stop them!" Luana shouts though she and Elaine were enjoying this too.

* * *

Pachi and I decided to take a stroll on the beach this morning since it's refreshing in a way but then I hear a weird, but eerie noise.

"What's that?" I wonder to myself. I follow the sound to find a cave. "I didn't notice this here before..."

"Chupa..." Pachi covers her ears as if in pain.

"What's wrong?" I look worriedly at my partner then I hear the weird noise again then I sense something weird. "That's bothering you isn't it?"

"Chupa..." Pachi nods painfully while still covering her ears. I furrow my brows and decided to head away from the cave which relaxed Pachi a little.

"Hmm..." I put a hand to my chin. "I wonder what's going on..."

I pat Pachi on the head. "Stay here, I'm going to check it out."

"Chupa..." Pachi sounds sad and worried.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in no time!" I said cheerfully and headed for the cave. The noise didn't affect me but it sure did have an effect on the pokemon in the cave.

"...They look hypnotized...Just like..." I furrow my brows as I remember the Dusknoir. Deciding to go deeper into the cave, I can heard the noise getting louder and this weird vibe I'm sensing getting stronger. Suddenly, I'm attacked by a Zubat.

"AHHH!" I shriek. "ZUBAT!"

Seriously, I almost ran out of the cave until I remembered what Kellyn lectured me on about Rangers. They must face danger and fear head on. Right. I stand my ground and pull out my capture styler.

"Capture on!" A disc shot out and wheels around the attack Zubat. It's a little difficult considering it's moving around so much but I manage to make a solid loop around it. A bright flash of light signals the completion of capture.

"Capture complete." I click my styler close as the disc returns. The Zubat looks around confused then flies away.

"Wha...?" I frown. "Why couldn't I capture it?"

Putting that aside, I head deeper in and my eyes adjust in the dark though I don't know how long I been in here. I guide myself while putting a hand on the cave wall at all times, getting the feeling that something's going to happen. Suddenly, I hear ringing which startled me. It turns out that my styler was the one making the ringing sound. I take it out and answer the voicemail.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Kate! You're okay!" That sounds like Barlow.

"Well...yeah..." I reply a bit confused. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because Pachi came back alone and we thought you might've gotten in trouble."

"Pachi?" Right...she must've got worried and head back for help. Before I can say anymore, I reached an area where I can see Zubats, and Shellos going in circles around a red fire hydrant looking machine. The machine is giving me weird vibes.

"Kate you there?" This time I heard Crawford's.

"Oh um yeah..."

"Where are you?" Luana's voice asks.

"I'm in a cave at Nabiki Beach." I reply. "I think I might need so help. The pokemon here are acting weird."

"Gotcha!" Crawford's voice replies.

"Oh and bring ear plugs."

"Ear plugs?"

"I think it might help."

"Well okay." Crawford replies. "I'll be there in a minute and I'll bring Pachi along too."

"Thanks!"

"Okay, I'm going to update this into a mission. You two come back safely."

"Roger." With that, I end the voicemail and look back at the situation. I tried getting closed to them but they only stare back at me with hypnotized eyes and readied to attack if I get any closer. I sweatdrop.

"This is gonna take a while..." Then I notice another entrance that connects deeper into the cave so i decided to go in that. Surprisingly, the air in this room feels calmer that the first one and so are the pokemon. I hear a pokemon cry and immediately head for it to see that a huge boulder is blocking where the cry is coming from.

"How do I get pass this?" I ask myslf then notice a passing Nosepass. "Aha!"

Aiming my styler at Nosepass release the disc. "Capture on!"

I made swift movements until a solid ring is form and encases Nosepass in a flash of light. "Capture complete. Nosepass, use rock smash and crush that boulder!"

"Nosepass!" The pokemon cries out and smashing the boulder in bits and pieces.

"Thanks for the help!" I wave goodbye to Nosepass then head into another area of the cave.

"H-hello?" My voice echo within the what seems to be a tiny area.

"Gast..." A pokemon says. I squint to see a pink Gastrodon.

"A Gastrodon...water..." I mutter to myself. "Red...fire...? Worth the shot."

Gastrodon notices me and sends a mud bomb in my direction,

"Whoa!" I jump out of the way, faceplanting the ground. "Ow ow ow..."

I look at the pokemon calmly and aim my styler at it.

"Capture on!" The disc goes around Gastrodon as I made slash movements then circular movements as Gastrodon is encased with a flash of light. "Capture complete."

I walk closer to Gastrodon. "Don't worry I won't hurt you. I just need your help."

"Gast." Gastrodon nods and follows me out to where the red machine is. The pokemon did experience some pain as it expose itself to the noise the machine is making.

"Gastrodon, use water pulse." I command, pointing to the red machine to which Gastrodon obeys and aim at.

* * *

Crawford's POV

"This must be Marine Cave." I said, recognizing it now then I heard a eerie noise. "What's that?"

"Chupa..."

"Budew..." Both pokemon sounds in pain.

"What's wrong guys?" I ask with concern. Noticing Pachi covering her ears, I'm reminded of what Kate had said: _Bring earplugs._

"So that' what she means." I take out two pair of earmuffs. "Not exactly earplugs but it'll do."

Upon putting them on, Pachi and Budew looks much better.

"Let's head in now." The pokemon nods. The cave is not that eerie though that noise is making it eerie. I was attack by one of the pokemon and tried to capture it though it didn't work and they just fled away after.

"What is going on here?" I look around, the pokemon in this cave is acting like zombies. We head deeper in and the weird noise stopped just like a snap. "What the..."

Up ahead, I can make out two silhouettes, one of pokemon and one of a familiar figure.

"Kate!"

"Chupa!" Pachi race to her side. Kate look over her shoulders.

"Oh hey." She says, her voice is really calm.

"Man, you must be really brave to sound so calm in this place." I laugh a little. She knelt down on one knee and pat Pachi then taking off the earmuffs.

"Hey wait...huh?" after taking it off, Pachi still acts normal and undisturbed.

"It's safe now." She says. I take off Budew's and my pokemon acts normally too.

"What happened?"

"Huh? Oh um...it's that thing." She points the a machine that looks destroyed. "I think that's what was upsetting the pokemon."

* * *

Kate's POV

I thanked Gastrodon for its help and it slowly crawl away while Crawford examine the machine.

_Hm...I saw Gastrodon...then I slightly remember destroying the machine with Gastrodon's help. _My memory is jumble up again. I give out a heavy sigh as Pachi climbs onto my shoulder.

"I don't know what this thing is." Crawford confirms. "We might have to carry this back to the base for further investigation."

"That thing looks heavy." I state. Crawford tries to heave it but with no luck.

"How much does this weight?! It feels like it's as heavy s a Snorlax!"

"That's exaggerating it Crawford..." I roll my eyes.

"Come here and help me."

I walk over and we both tried to heave the thing but it wouldn't budge.

"Okay, I can believe you now."

Crawford makes a call of his styler. "We're going to need help."

He makes a report to Barlow about what happened in the cave.

"Who would be able to carry that thing?"

"I know someone who does." Crawford grins. "And it's not Barlow, it's someone stronger."

"Heh? There's someone tougher than him?"

"Yep and why don't you go ahead and head back, I'll wait here."

"Um you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay then bye." On the way out I meet another more Zubats and I ended up running out while shrieking. "No. More. Bats!"

I rest for a bit outside and continue my way back to base. Along the way, I meet Big Bertha, one of whom I was delivering paper to. I'm not trying to be rude but she is huge. Is she the one Crawford was talking about? After talking to her, she headed for the direction of the cave. Yep, she is.

...

"I'm back."

"Hey Kate, Crawford gave m the report, you two found a strange machine in the cave?" Barlow asks. I nod.

"It was making weird noises and hypnotizing the pokemon around it."

"Hm...that's strange..." Barlow puts a hand to his chin. "But you quick on your feet for someone who had just became a ranger!"

"T-thanks." I laugh nervously.

"Kate, guess what?" Elaine asks, handing me Almia's Times newspaper. As the front page header, it's: Keith, The New Hero!

I chuckle. "Already on the front page." Then the abnormal behaviors of pokemon on it caught my attention. It's just like the ones I encountered earlier.

The door slide open and Little Tim came in, another one I meet while delivering and surprising, Big Bertha's husband. I guess love knows no bounds.

S-sorry to disturb y'all but I'm having a tiny bit trouble." Little Tim says nervously.

"What is it?" Luana asks.

"Ya see, ever since Big Bertha left to help Crawford, our Milktank has been in a bad mood." He explains. "And and I can't calm it down. So I thought maybe one of them rangers can help."

"Of course." Barlow replies. "Kate, sorry to send you out but this is a great way for you to learn to take on quests from people."

_I guess missions and quests are different._

"Sure." Little Tim takes me to his Milktank. Boy is he right. The Milktank looks furious. Once she sees me, the pokemon charged straight at me.

"Eek!" I screech, getting out of the way. Milktank comes back charging at me again and again and again. She doesn't seem to stop till he hits me which I doubt I'll like.

"Pachi, paralyze Milktank!"

"Chupa!" Pachi release static waves, stopping Milktank while I capture it.

"Capture complete." I said, finally calming Milktank down. Walking over, I pat Milktank on the head. "No need to be so upset."

"Mil!" Milktank chirps.

"I guess I'm done so I'll go back to base now!" I wave a Little Tim then jump over the fence.

"Thanks a bunch!" Little Tim Call out.

"No problem!"

Before I head in, I heard a loud THUD sound which made me jump. "What was that?!"

It seems to be one weird thing after another.


	8. Chapter 8 - Fire Crisis

Chapter 8 - Fire Crisis

* * *

I peek into the base to see everyone surrounding the the destroyed machine earlier.

"B-Big Bertha...you carried this thing all the way here...on your shoulder?!" Barlow asks in disbelief.

_HEH?! _I have a look of disbelief on my face as I heard that.

"You really are the strongest in Almia!" Barlow compliments.

_...That's an understatement..._

"Anyways, what is this thing?" Crawford asks.

"Don't know..." Barlow says, looking at the machine. "Never seen something like this in my life."

"Let's dismantle it~!" Elaine sings, holding a wrench in hand.

"That sounds like a good idea." I said, joining in.

"Oh hey Kate." Crawford greets.

"N-no!" Barlow says urgently, stopping Elaine from getting closer to the machine.

"Why?" Elaine pouts.

"We have to bring Prof. Hasting in to examine this for anything else!" Barlow answers. "But he's on a business trip in the Fiore region and won't be back for a couple of days."

"Then dismantle it then let him examine it." Elaine replies, eyes sparkling.

"Elaine no!" Barlow declines. "We need to leave it like this! You'll dismantle it when he comes to look."

"...Fine." Elaine says, upset. I sweatdrop, that is one energetic mechanic...Though I am slightly interested in what the machine is made of.

...

For the next day, I'm assigned to patrolling around town and helping the people in need. Elaine being impatient. Not much happening.

* * *

_What is that smell? _I woke up and head out of the room with Pachi.

"Barlow, did someone burned toast?" I ask the man standing in the base.

"Not it's not that." Barlow says with an urgent look on his face. "It's-"

"Fwahhhh...I smelled something burning." Luana came out, rubbing her eyes and sleepy. "I didn't burn the toast this time."

"It's not about toast!" Barlow sweatdrops. "Crawford called me while he took a stroll this morning. There's a fire in Vein Forest!"

"F-F-FIRE?!" Luana and I exclaim. Barlow nods.

"Crawford is at the site right now so forget about food and go help Crawford put out the fire!" Barlow commands. "This is a mission people!"

"Roger!" We exclaim and begin heading out.

"Remember, safety comes first, don't do anything that will harm your life!" Barlow calls. "Injuries are fine, just don't die!"

"Is that suppose to be a joke?" I sweatdrop. Luana giggles. We head north to see people at the forest entrance looking worried.

"Everyone!" Luana calls out as we run in. "Stay around from this area, it's dangerous!"

...

"Hey Luana, there's someone up ahead."

"Is it Crawford?"

"No...it's Mimi!" I exclaim, recognizing the little girl.

"Mimi?!" Luana exclaims as we get closer. "Why are you here? It's dangerous here so you have to go back home!"

"Mim can't go." The little girl snivel with tears in her eyes. "Three of Mimi's Happiny all ran away!"

"Hap happiny.." The remaining Happiny starts crying next to her.

"T-they suddenly stop listening to Mimi and now they're gone!" Mimi cries.

"Don't cry Mimi." Luana crouch down to pat her head to comfort her.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back to you." I comfort.

"Y-you will?" Mimi snivels.

"You can trust us! We're rangers aren't we?" Luana smiles kindly at her.

"Happiny!" The Happiny chirps.

"Yep!" Mimi nods happily, wiping her tears. "Mimi will wait here till you come back!"

"Okay, just be careful." I said. With that we head deeper in. "First Happiny then fire."

Luana nods. "Let's split to look."

We head into different directions. I went down a path then I see two Happiny but a huge still burning log drop down, blocking my path and cornering the two Happiny.

"Hap! Happiny!" The two exclaim in fear as the fire spread. I have to get to them before they get hurt. I look around to see if there is any water type that will help.

"Chupa!" Pachi points to a Wartortle in a distant.

"Good eyes Pachi!" I compliment.

"Chupa!"

I aim my styler at the Wartortle. "Capture on!"

The disc comes out and encircle the pokemon. I make slash and circular movements with my styler, the disc creates a soild ring encasing the Wartortle in a flash of light. "Capture complete! Wartortle, use water gun!"

"War! Wartortle!" Wartortle obeys, shooting out a blast of water to stop the fire.

"Thanks Wartortle but I might need your help again later."

"Wartortle!" Wartortle says as I climb over the log to see the Happiny scared.

"Happiny, I'm here to bring you two back to Mimi." i said, trying to sooth them but it didn't work so I have to capture them. I release my disc once more and captured the scared little pokemon, calming them down.

"Let's go back to Mimi." I smile.

"Hap!" The two Happiny agrees. We head back to where Mimi is, dodging more falling logs and branches. When we got back, I saw Luana there as well.

"Luana!" I call and wave.

"Kate, did you find the other ones?"

"Mhm." I said, showing the two Happiny. The other two greeted happily.

"Yay! Welcome back Happiny!" Mimi chirps. "Thank you rangers, they're all back!"

"Hap happiny!" The four pokemon chant.

"No problem, just head home safely." Luana reply.

"Mimi will! Bye bye!" Mimi chirps and started walking out. "Thank you!"

"Bye!" We wave. "Okay, let's get to Crawford."

We went in one direction then turn to head to another until we finally see Crawford.

"Hey!" Luana shouts to get his attention.

"Oi it's about time you got here!" Crawford calls back.

"Sorry, we had trouble on the way here." I explain.

"I say." Crawford tries to fan himself with his shirt. "This place is a toaster!"

"Now that you mention it..." Luana starts to fan herself. "Is it getting hotter or is it just me?"

"It's you." Crawford joke. "No, I'm kidding. The fire's getting bigger and I need help evacuating the pokemon before they get hurt."

"On it!" Luana gives a thumbs up.

"Kate, I need you to find a pokemon that can use rain dance." Crawford.

"Roger-" I heard a pokemon cry. Before I know it, I headed into the sea of fire, leaving Pachi and the others on the spot.

"Kate! What are you doing?!"

"Don't worry! I'll be back!"...Well at least that's what I said.

Either I'm immune to pain or I'm just not thinking about it but after getting some burns here and there - thankfully it's not my hair - I didn't feel anything. I ran deeper in, tuning into the pokemon cry I heard. As I did, I thought I saw the space in front of me waver a little though it must be my imagination.

"I wish it rain. This heat is getting to my eyes..." I mutter then shake my head and slap myself. "C'mon Kate, focus!"

"Cher cher!" A Cherubi hopped out of no where trying to tell me something.

"Something wrong?"

"Cher!" Cherubi ran in a direction and trying to tell me to follow it.

"Hold up!" I follow Cherubi until it stops and hop on one spot.

"Cher...?" Cherubi looks curiously around as if looking for something that was there before. Right next to Cherubi is a similar destroyed machine like the one back at base.

"Wha...? How did that get there?" Then noticing a partly lit branch falling directly on Cherubi, I quickly plunge to cover the distracted pokemon.

"Ow..." I wince at the pain.

"Cher...?" Cherubi looks worriedly at me.

"I'm fine..." I assure the pokemon though it stings. "Let's get you out." Except...I don't think I know how...

There is a loud wood snap as a huge tree trunk in front of me fall.

"Uh oh..." I said with a flat tone. And this is where this start getting blurry. As if acting on instinct, I unconsciously thrust a hand towards the tree trunk, sending strain throughout my body. And then sensing a tingling energy through my hands, I begin to lose consciousness. Last thing I saw and hear was the tree trunk snap and...rain? And off to dreamland I go!

* * *

_"EEEEKKKK! BATS BATS BATS!" I ran as fast as I can when I saw the horde bat pokemon. Then, everything stopped, the bat pokemon disappeared and every where I see turns white._

_"Hello?" I look around. "What is this place?"_

_I would walk around but everything is white so I didn't bother. Time seem to stay still for a while. I look down on the ground, but it's not there. I been standing on the smooth surface of water...how is that even possible? Looking upon my reflection in the water, I seem different somehow but I can't make out what is different. I crouch down to my feet to get a closer look but only to furrow my brow and frown, "Is it...?"_

_I thought I saw the reflection of someone standing behind me but when I turn around, no one was there. Weird. I then hear loud clatter of noises that I can recognize._

"Would you start talking already?!" That sounds like Barlow.

"Geez! Why are you so loud in the morning?!" That's Luana probably.

"Luana, it's gonna get burned again if you don't pay attention!" That's Crawford.

"Wha...OH SHOOT!" There's a loud clatter as something drop.

"Looks like we're gonna have another fire!" That sounded like a sing-a-long tone.

"Oh shut up!"

"Elaine no, please don't touch that!" Barlow again.

"Haha! When it comes to machines, she just can't help herself!" Crawford laughing. "Ow!"

"Ngh...! J-just wait a little longer! I wish Prof. Hasting would come faster!"

I groan and got up, rubbing my aching head. When did I hit my head? What's going on outside? Sighing, I got up sleepily and open the door to the lobby of the base. I can see Barlow clutching Elaine from going near the machine while dealing with some guy I don't remember meeting tied up in ropes. There's Luana and Crawford pinching each other's face and fighting, Crawford with a big bump of his head and a messy face. On the floor, laid a mess of broken plates and burnt toast. Once I open the door and step out, everyone froze and give me a weird look.

"You're awake!" I look over to the counter to see the operator smiling at me.

"Huh...?" I said sleepily then rub my eyes. "What are you guys-"

"KATE!"

"WAAHHH!" I got into startle position and shriek in terror as Luana and Crawford tackle me to the ground which earned them each a fist to the head from Barlow.

"OW!" They exclaim in unison as a bump grow on each of their heads.

"No rough housing!"

"You didn't seem to mind when we were fighting earlier!" Crawford said in defense.

"What are you guys?! Three year olds?!" I had my back against the door and staring at them shockingly. I feel like I just had Deja Vu.

"Chupa!" Pachi jumps onto me and give me a hug. Then I heard the door slid open.

"Now that was some exercise! And that Wendy wanted to fly me here! What joke!"

"I see you're the same as always."

"Whuh...?" I look to the entrance to see who's there. "What and why are you here?!"


	9. Chapter 9 - Gigaremo

Chapter 9 - Gigaremo

* * *

"Prof. Hasting!" Barlow exclaim happily. "Thank goodness you're here!"

"Sorry it took so long." The man in the coat replies.

"Please, just look at this thing!" Barlow says urgently. "I don't think I can keep Elaine down any longer!"

"See? We should've take up on Wendy's offer!" The guy with midnight blue hair and eyes says.

"I rather climb Mt. Silver than to use any mean of flying transportation." Hasting argued back. Boy is that one healthy old man.

"Now what's this?" He walks over to the machine.

"You haven't answer me. What and why are you here?"

"Is that how you treat someone after seeing them after a long time Katie?"

"That's not my name!" I pout.

"So you remember me." He grins.

"How could I forget." I mutter.

"Hey...aren't you..." Crawford starts pointing at the guy with earn him a smack upside the head by Luana.

"Pointing's rude!"

"Who are you? My mom?" Crawford argued. The guy laughs.

"Lunick! Stop ignoring my question!"

"I knew it!" Crawford exclaims.

"Right right, sorry." Lunick replies. "We're escorting Prof. Hasting back to Ranger HQ."

"We?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Speaking of which, where is he? He ran off after the fire." Lunick looks around. "I thought he would be here."

"Fire..?" I blink and suddenly, the pain comes in. "Ow ow ow!"

"Kate?" Luana ask me worriedly.

"Typical." Lunick chuckles. "It still takes you a while to realize you're hurt."

"Shut up." I scrowl, holding onto my shoulder. "What happened back in the forest?"

"Well, you acted on your own and ran straight into the fire zone." Crawford answers. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

I cringe. "S-sorry..."

"We found you unconscious after a sudden appearance of a rain storm." Luana continues.

"And that guy too." Crawford thumbs to the guy tied in ropes. "He might know something about the fire but he refuses to say anything."

"He was tied up all night?" I ask.

"Pretty much. Barlow tried everything he knows to get him to talk, he even tried giving him nicknames that isn't funny at all like 'oil-reeking-guy'"

"We decided to call him Ollie instead." Luana giggles.

"Chupa?" Pachi looks up at Lunick's shoulder at a Minum.

"Min?" Minum looks curiously back.

"Go on, don't be shy." Lunick coaxes. Minum hops off and they started playing around after a moment of staring.

"So how have you been, Kat?"

"I been better." I reply, look at the bandages on me.

"Do you guys know each other?" Luana asks.

"Right, let me start over." Lunick clears his throat.

"Oh no, please don't." I said quickly, knowing what he is going to say. He pulls me up and swing an arm over my shoulder.

"My name's Lunick and baby Kate here is kind of like my little sister!" He grins. "She always come crying to me when something scares her."

Crawford and Luana hid a snicker.

My face is flushed red. "D-don't make it sound like I still do!"

"Aw, is wittle Katie finally growing up after coming to Almia?" Lunick teases, ruffling my hair. "You used to write to me all the time when I'm away. You were quite the writer, that one time when you wrote-OW!"

I stepped on his foot to stop talking. "No one needs to know about what I wrote!"

"Hm...I think I seen something like this before." Hasting says suddenly. "Lunick, do you remember?"

We look over to where Prof. Hasting is.

"Wasn't it in Pueltown?" Lunick replies, holding onto his numb foot.

"Oh yes! That's it! I thought that it was some kind of a new design for a mail box."

"Mailbox?" I comment flatly.

"Can I dismantle it now?" Elaine whine.

"Yes yes, go right ahead. I would like to see what's inside. But be gentle." Hasting added in the last part quickly.

After hearing that, Elaine got really happy and started working.

"Barlow, why don't you sent so rangers to investigate in Pueltown?" Hasting suggests. "It might help."

Barlow nods. "Any volunteers?"

"I will!" I said tersely. Anything that will get away from Lunick's embarrassment talk.

"Are you sure Kate?" Barlow says in concern. "You haven't fully recover from yesterday."

"Don't worry."

"That's what you said before you dash into the fire yesterday." Crawford deadpans. I sweatdrop.

"I'll be more careful this time."

"You're never careful." Lunick points out. I gave him a look that says 'shut up'.

"I'll be fine." I said determinedly though Barlow looks reluctant.

"I'll go with Kate just in case!" Luana says tersely.

"And I'll be here laughing if you ended up calling for back up later on because of something silly." Crawford jokes. "You did that when you thought there were ghosts on one of your missions."

Luana glares at him. "And you were useless when you came to help me."

"Okay, enough." Barlow sighs. "You two should get going."

"You sure have a lot on your hands." Lunick says to Barlow.

"I know..." Barlow replies, pinching the arch of his nose.

"Barlow puts up with us all the time." Crawford grins.

"We'll be off then." Luana says before we leave the base. Pachi follow quickly after me, saying goodbye to Minum.

...

"Your brother sure is amusing." Luana giggles.

"We're not related but he can be really annoying sometimes." I pout.

"How long have you guys known each other?"

I thought for a while. "I can't remember...He and Solana visits me and my family whenever they had time back in Fiore."

"Then you guys must be close like family!" Luana chirps. "Hey look!"

Luana points to a cliff up ahead. "It's Lookout Ridge!"

She practically ran to it. "Isn't the view amazing?"

I gotta admit, it's a great view. I notice an tower being under construction and wondered about it.

"TALK ALREADY OLLIE! CRAWFORD'S SUCH AN IDIOT!"

That sudden scream almost gave me and Pachi a heart attack.

"That felt good~!"

"What was that for?!" I squeak, feeling as if my heart's going to jump out.

"Sorry to scared you like that!" Luana apologizes. "It's just to get that off my chest."

"Next time, warn me before you do it." I said, shaking.

"Chupa..." Pachi agrees.

"I'll try to remember that!" Luana giggles. "Let's get to Pueltown."

As we got closer, I felt a chill down my spine.

"Something wrong?"

"Do you sense it?"

"Sense what?" Luana gives me a look of confusion.

"Nevermind." Am I the only one that gets this weird sensation?

"Come back here you no good crooks!" Someone shouts as we arrive.

We turn to the left to see a pink haired guy with tropical clothing running straight across us.

"What was that about?"

"Do you hear something?" I ask, listening closely. It's the same weird and eerie noise back in the cave.

"Now that you mentioned it, what is that?"

"Chupa..."

"Bun bun..." Our pokemon cries in pain and try their best to cover their ears.

"Guys, what's wrong?" Luana ask in concern. Good thing I was prepared. I took out some ear plugs and plop them into the pokemon's ears.

"Better?" They nod in response. Note to self, always bring earplugs.

I proceed to look around Pueltown and spotted something familiar then walk over to it.

"That looks like the one in the base and the one we saw in the forest." Luana gasps. I knelt down to look closely at it.

"Someone destroyed it." There was something that took my notice in the pile of rubble and was about to reach for it until a scream came in.

"SOMEONE! HEEELLPPPPP!" It was from the same direction that the pink haired guy rushed to. We quickly head over to see what is going on. Heading to the right of us, we saw a blue hydrant and a few Bibarels blocking the path straight ahead.

"The pokemon are acting as if someone's controlling them!" Luana points.

We head up the stairs where it isn't block and see Eleckids and Magbys circling around the pink hair guy and a little girl whom I recognize as Melody.

"Hold on! We'll save you two!" Luana calls out.

"I know. And you can't capture then in that state either." I reply and notice a green hydrant nearby. _If water works on a red one then fire probably works on a green one._

"Luana, get a fire type and destroyed that green hydrant." I point. "I'll deal with the Bibarels from before."

"Got it!" From there, we split up. I headed down stairs to the hypnotized Bibarels forming the blockade. I poke Pachi and motion towards the blue hydrant. She understands what I'm trying to say and jumps up, sending an electric type attack at it. Once it was destroyed, I give Pachi a thumbs up though the Bibarels are still hypnotized. Must be because the green one haven't been destroyed yet.

"How long are the range for these things?" I mutter. Deciding to not wait any longer, I made a jump over them and ran straight towards the ports, with the Bibarels on my tail.

"So they don't just stand around." I note to myself. Seeing a ledge with a broke rail, I double jumped from a nearby wooden crate onto the top and loosing the Bibarels. From there, I can their voices.

"Who's the genus that made these Gigaremo so heavy?!"

"It's thanks to how heavy this is that we were spotted!"

"Just shut up."

"But some of them were destroyed! All of our hard work planting them in place!"

I walk over by the rails the where the voices are, making sure to hide in the shadows to avoid notice. I see a group of people dressed in dark purple clothes and all except one of them wore black caps. hey are surrounding a yellow hydrant.

"Stop complaining and place that Gigaremo down." Once it was placed down, it sent out a huge invisible sonic wave that made my head hurt. It didn't look like those people are affected. From my view, I can see a dark aura surrounding the hydrant.

_What's going on?_

I tried to cover my ears but it's no use. Pachi looks at me with concern, she isn't being affected because she can't hear.

It was so unbearable that I stepped back and accidentally knock over a cylindrical red tank which is something I regret doing.

"Who's there?" I hear footsteps closing in.

_Drats. _I signal for Pachi to stay put.

"Shoot! It's another ranger!"

"Toxicroak! Get rid of her!"

"Tch." I jump on top of a crate to dodge out of the way and reach for my styler. My headache smoothed out a little but not much. "Capture on!"

I guide my style around the swifty Toxicroak. Just when a solid circle is formed around it, Toxicroak jump up and aimed a poison jab at me. That time, I barely made it out unscathe. Again, I guide my styler while moving to the sync of the Toxicroak. Finally, the solid ring appears again and successfully encase Toxicroak in a bright light. The pokemon looks confusingly around before going away. I look over to the group to see that they're trying to uplift the hydrant and scurrying away.

"We, of Team Dim Sum, will be back!"

"Idiot! Why would you tell a ranger our name?!"

"Crap! I thought it would sound cool!"

"Hey stop!" I called out.

"Yeah right! Who would stop when the person chasing them tells them to?"

I chase after them but they got on a boat and out of my reach. I stand facing the vast ocean as the boat heads off. I grit my teeth and look down to see my reflection. "What the..."

"Come back here crooks!" I turn around to see the pink haired guy running in my direction and jump straight into the water. "BROOK'S SUPER JUMP!"

Astonished by what the guy just did, I didn't move away from the splash he made and I got all wet.

* * *

On the utmost top of the pier

"Ooh, she's gonna catch a cold." The voice sounded amused.

"Why did you stop me?" The owner of the voice frown.

"Being rash won't get you anywhere." The man besides him reply. "Besides, I wanted to see if she can handle herself."

"She was careless back at the forest." The boy frown.

"But at least you put out the fire before it got worse."

"Are we done?"

The man beside him sighs. "You're too tense."

The two flew away with the help of flying types.

* * *

"Kate!"

"Chupa!" I turn around again to see Luana, Pachi, and Melody coming towards me. "Have you seen Brook? The guy in tropical clothes?"

I point to the ocean. She falls in front of me.

"Seriously?!" Luana asks, facing up. Melody giggles.

"Brother Brook is funny."

"Brother?"

"Issac isn't around much so Brook acts like another brother to me."

Someone sighs. "If that's Brook then don't worry, he'll be back."

I look ahead to see a fisherman. "It's just another normal day with Brook."

I deadpan. "Him? Jumping into the sea? With flip flops between his teeth? Swimming after a ship? Normal?"

"Yep." The fisherman says causally. "Perfectly normal."

"If that's normal then what's crazy?" Luana deadpans.

We hear panting behind us.

"Damn. I got tired. And lost them." Brook crawls up after throwing his flip flops on shore.

"You're okay!" Luana exclaims.

"I told you so." The fisherman states.

"I'll report this to Barlow via voicemail and we'll head back." Luana informs. "And you need a change of clothes asap."

I twist my pigtails dry of water. "Yeah."


	10. Chapter 10 - The Power of Pudding

Chapter 10 - The Power of Pudding

* * *

Kate's POV

"We're back!" Luana and I announce once we got inside.

"Welcome bac-Kate, why are you all wet?" Barlow asks, caught off guard by my appearance.

"Did something happened?" Lunick asks, he just came back somewhere, probably from a stroll though I might be wrong.

"Long story." I reply, going into the changing room to get changed. "Luana can explain."

"I'm going to sleep." I said nonchalantly, walking to the bedroom.

"Wait, Kate, I want you to meet someone." Lunick suddenly calls to me.

Someone? Who is he talking about? Though that prick my interest, I decline it.

"I'm tired, maybe next time." I wave the back of my hand and enter the bedroom. Changing out of the wet clothes and flop onto bed, Pachi got on next to me.

"Chupa?" Pachi asks in concern.

I pat Pachi and the head. "I'm fine."

Looking up to the ceiling, I let my mind wonder. _What happened today...? How was I even affected by the gigaremo thing? In the water...those eyes...they didn't look or feel like mine... _And I wondered for a while.

_Fiore...I wonder how he's doing... _I turn a bit pink and shook my head at the thought. _How did I get there? Eh...I'm gonna blame Lunick for this._

* * *

Lunick's POV

I shiver out of the blue. "Why do I get the feeling that someone's talking about me?"

"Kate told me what she found out on the way back." Luana frown.

"It sounds like we're dealing with an organization called Team Dim Sun and those machine thingies are called Gigaremo."

"So these things are called gigaremos." Barlow put a hand to his chin. "Why the long face?"

"It's just that I wasn't there to help Kate... and they got away..."

"There's always next time." A calm voice says out of no where.

"That's right, there's always next time..." Barlow looks around. "Wait...Who said that?"

"Why were you hiding?" I turn around and to face the boy. "I was gonna tell Kate but she seems out of it."

"It's fine." He reply. "She looks like she's thinking for once."

"Hey! Long time no see!" Crawford greets cheerfully. "Whoa! You're already at that level?!"

He was about to answer back until both our stylers rang.

"Just when I found you wondering around Pueltown too..." I sigh, after reading the message.

"Orders are orders."

I turn to Barlow. "Looks like we're going to be leaving a little ahead of schedule. After Prof. Hasting's done, would you mind escorting him back to the Union?"

"You can count on me." He grins, pounding his fist to his chest.

"We'll be off now, tell Kate I said bye and take care Prof. Hasting!" But the professor is too focus to hear me. Two Staraptors are waiting for us outside.

"You worry about her too much."

I chuckle. "She's like family to me, of course I'll be worry. But from the looks of it, so are you."

He turns away. My grin widen.

"Aw, you're blushing a little!" I tease.

"Shut up." He elbows me in the ribs.

"Ow..." I groan. "You need to loosen up."

He roll his eyes.

* * *

Next day Kate's POV

"Wow Big Bertha! Thanks!" Crawford's voice woke me up. I head outside to see everyone minus Lunick.

"What's happening...?" I ask sleepily, rubbing my eye.

"Chupa..." Pachi yawns.

"Morning Kate!" Luana greets cheerfully.

"Kate, try this milk pudding that Big Bertha brought!" Barlow says.

"It's Milktank's way of thanking you for your hard work." Bertha comes towards me with the pudding. "Eat up! It'll give you a lot of energy!"

"T-thanks." I said hastily, taking the pudding and spooned some into my mouth. The flavor registers with my taste buds.

"It's good!" I smile. Pachi climbed up on my shoulder, sniffing the pudding.

I scoop some and held it in front of Pachi. "Want some?"

"Chupa!" Pachi took a bite and and she ran happily around the room. We laugh at the sight.

"I'm guessing you like it huh?"

Big Bertha then head to Ollie. "Now you should eat some too."

"That guy refuses to open his mouth." Barlow informs with a bit of rudeness. "Just stick the spoon in his mouth and that'll be plenty."

"That's a bit rude...don't cha think?" I sweatdrop.

"Now look here, that's no way to treat anyone." Big Bertha lectures. "He looks like the hungriest here."

"Did you feed Ollie at all yesterday?" I eye Barlow suspiciously as Big Bertha treats Ollie like her own child or something. Barlow only whistles sheepishly and avoid eye contact.

"You're so cruel." Crawford deadpans.

"Are you being a hypocrite?" I glance at him. "You didn't do anything about it either did you?"

Crawford gives a nervous chuckle.

"Well I'm not the one who should even say these since I been in and out of the base." I add in dully.

"I tried to feed him but he doesn't seem to want to..." Luana explains.

"Of course not." Crawford teased. "Why would anyone want to eat your cooking?"

Luana gives him a death stare and stared chasing him around the room.

"C'mere! I'm going to kill you!" Luana threatens through grit teeth.

"Why you I come to you when you just said that?" Crawford laughs while running, both of them are causing a ruckus.

I continue with my pudding, eating and acting causally despite what's around me. Man...I must've gotten used to this.

"Where did Lunick go?" I ask, suddenly realizing.

"Oh, he got a message and had to go." Barlow answers. "And he told us to tell you he said bye."

"Huh..." I said absentmindedly. _Too bad...it was fun with him around despite his teasing._

Crawford knocked my hand by accident and caused to to spill the rest of my pudding. I stared sadly at the perfectly good pudding on the ground and a vein popped as Crawford and Luana is still causing a ruckus.

"WiLL YOU TWO QUIT IT?!" I raged, hitting them both with a mallet -I don't know where I got that from-

"Ow!" They both cried in unison, tears forming around their eyes. Everyone stared as if I lost my mind.

"Thanks to you, I couldn't enjoy the rest of my pudding." I seethe, pointing to it lying on the ground.

"Sorry Kate" Crawford and Luana apologizes. Crawford then then point to the mallet in my hand.

"But where did you get that from?"

I looked at it and threw it away without a care.

"No idea." I huffed. They all sweatdrop.

We turn to Ollie when we heard sniveling and sobbing, well except Elaine and Prof. Hasting, they're still at the machine.

"I...don't d-deserve...this..." he snivel. "...T-the fire...I...I was the one who caused it!"

Well, here comes the confession.

"I accidentally spilled oil on those gigaremos! I was being clumsy!" Ollie explains as calmly as he can as tears stream through. "A spark plug went and lit the fuel and the wild fire spread and...I don't even know those people! I meet one long a ago and he said that I could make easy money if I help him so I did...I didn't know what those machines were!"

"I'm sorry...it's all my fault..." Ollie snivels.

"It's Team Dim Sun's fault." I corrected. "You didn't know what you were getting yourself into."

"And the pudding...it was d-delicious..." Ollie continues to snivel and sob.

"There there child." Big Bertha coax. "Now how is he going to wipe away those tears when he's all tangled up? Someone untied these ropes."

Luana tried untying the ropes. "Ngh...! It won't budge! Kate, help!"

"Coming." We both tried to pull the ropes apart. "Hm..."

"Who tied these ropes?" Luana asks no one particular. Crawford and Barlow point to one another.

"Don't blame it on the other one if you both did it." We roll our eyes.

"Elaine, got something in your gadget box that will help?" Luana asks. Elaine hears it, search through her tool box, and toss over a scissor like wrench.

"Thanks." I caught it and begin cutting it loose.

"Much better now!" Luana cheers. I return the tool to Elaine.

"Freedom at last!" Ollie exclaims, fist bumping the air with both hands.

"Don't over do it mister." Luana says sternly.

"R-right...sorry.." Ollie chuckle nervously.

"Now that you cleared up everything Ollie, you are free to go." Barlow grins. "You were just manipulated by those punks so it's not your fault. But we do have to take caution from now on."

Barlow puts a hand to his chin. "Kate, I want you to patrol around town to see if anything's suspicious."

"Roger." I took Pachi with me and head out of the base but quickly got halted.

"Kate wait!" I look around to see Ollie coming out. "...Could you do me a favor?"

I smile. "Sure hope it doesn't take too long."

He nods. "Can you take me to Chikeko Village? There's...someone I want to see."

"Chikeko Village..." I thought for a bit. "Okay, it's not that far. And my family's there too so I get to check on them as well."

...

"KAAATTTEEE!" A familiar voice screeches then my little sister pounces on me as we step into the village.

"Who-? Wha-?" I was taken by surprised. "Lila, what's wrong?"

"T-there's...a-a g-g-ghost in the f-farm!" She stammers.

"A ghost?!" Ollie and I exclaim in unison.

"Big sis! You have to come help!" Lila says, dragging me by my hand.

"W-wait-!" I said quickly. "I-I have to-"

"This sounds more important than whatever i have to do so take this as priority." Ollie cuts in.

"If you say so..." I trail off. We follow Lila to Partner farm.

"Look!" Lila points to a hat in the middle of the farm. "A ghost is in the hat!"

"Gah..." I flinch, dark vertical lines form under my eyes.

"It really is a ghost." I mutter.

"Well whatever it is, it's been moving around the farm and doesn't leave. My dad said with a bit of amusement.

"I-it's haunted...! Ollie squeaks, he's hdding behind me. This kind of feel like that Trail or Courage thing back at school.

"Kate! Do something!" Lila demands.

"H-heh?!" I look to see Lila's scared face then sigh in defeat.

"Fine..." Pachi and I cautiously walk closer to the brown hat, trying not to make a sound. I accidentally stepped on a twig and it snapped. The hat took alert and started moving away.

"Hey wait a minute!" I called then I mentally facepalm. _What did I say that for, it probably doesn't even understand me._

Pachi and I chase it all over the farm while the other three watched. The wind suddenly started lowing and the hat topple over to reveal a Kricketot cowering under it.

"Huh?" I was dumbfounded. "It's...only a pokemon..."

The pokemon panicked and started attacking. I got out of the way and took out my styler.

"C-capture on!" I said hastily, encircling the Kricketot with the disc. After a few seconds, a solid loop appears and encases the bug type in a flash of light.

"Capture complete."

I holler the the three. "Coast is clear! It's only a Kricketot!"

"It was a pokemon?" Lila asks, coming over. I nod, motioning towards the bug type who is conversing with Pachi.

"Well I'll be." Dad says. "Guess we were worried over nothing."

"Dad...you didn't sound worried in the first place." I deadpan. He only chuckles.

"Aw...he's so cute~!" Lila squeals. I roll my eyes, she says that to every tiny pokemon. "Can we keep him?"

"I'm not so sure about that...it is a while pokemon..." I reply.

"As long as it's okay with Kricketot then it'll be okay with us." Dad answers.

"Chupa chupa!" Pachi explains to Kricketot who nods in agreement.

"Yay~!" Lila suddenly cuddles with the bug type. "We can play in Partner Farm!"

"Don't choke the poor thing." I laugh.

"Since that's taken care of, can we get going?" Ollie suddenly says.

"R-right...sorry." I reply hastily.

"I'm just relieved it's not a ghost." Ollie says quietly.

"You and me both..." I wouldn't know how to react if I saw a real one.


	11. Chapter 11 - Underwater

Chapter 11 - Underwater

* * *

I take Ollie back to his "friend", who turns out to be his mom. I leave them alone and go on with my patrol. I help some of the townspeople who need it. One wants to see a Combee, and another wants to to crush the crates that washed up by the beach. Then, I have to break a boulder that had squashed a sign post near Breezy Hill so that a new one could be put up.

"I'm reporting back, there is nothing out of the ordinary," I say when I come back to base.

"Job well done," Barlow compliments.

"What's this?!" Prof. Hasting exclaims, looking closely at something. He then picks up what looks to be a tiny black crystal.

"Have you ever seen such a thing?" Prof. Hasting asks Elaine. She only shakes her head in response.

"Never seen anything like it in my life." She then smirks, holding up a hammer. "Want me to pulverize it so we can see the inside?"

All of us gave her a bewildered look as Prof. Hasting panics.

"No no! That's not necessary!" Prof. Hasting says hastily. "I'll take it back to the Union to have the scientists examine it."

"Darn..." Elaine says, disappointed, and puts the hammer away.

"We'll also hold a meeting to talk about these so-called Gigaremos," Prof. Hasting says. "Barlow, I will need you to come. We have much to prepare for the meeting."

"Roger that," Barlow replies, then turns to us. "Well team, I'll be out for the next day or two. Watch over the base while I'm gone and continue doing what you normally do... except for the joking and running around." He adds the last part quickly, knowing what some of us could and would do.

"C'mon..." Crawford whines. "You can trust us."

"I wouldn't trust you with my life." Luana growls.

Crawford tries to put on the innocent act. "Why can't I be trusted?"

Barlow sighs. "What am I going to do with you guys?"

"Don't worry, Elaine and Lyla are here to watch," I reassure him, motioning to the mechanic and the operator**(I don'****t know her name so I'm just making one up)**. "We'll see ya later."

"Right, see you guys." Barlow waves and exits with Prof. Hasting.

"No flying, that's all I ask of you," we hear Prof. Hasting plead. We can't help but laugh.

"He's a funny guy, that Prof. Hasting," Crawford comments after we manage to contain our laughter.

...

Ringing wakes me up in the morning.

"AHH!" I shout, falling head first off the bed. "Ugh..."

I pick myself up and rub my aching head.

"Chupa..." Pachi yawns.

"Kate, are you okay?" Luana asks, having opened the door to my room after hearing my shout.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply. I then realize that I have a call on my styler.

"Who calls this early in the morning?" I groan.

"Actually... it's 11 AM right now, give or take a few minutes," Luana corrects. I stare at her groggily, then yawn.

"Well, that's a normal time to wake up at. You guys just wake me up too early with your usual shouting and stuff."

"It is rather quiet today," Luana comments, seeming to come to a realization. "Crawford's on an early morning mission."

"Early bird," I comment.

My styler continues to ring. "Oh, right! The call."

"Kate here," I answer.

"Kate? What took you so long to pick up?" It's Barlow and he sounds irritated.

"Uh... Hehe... I guess... I overslept and didn't hear it 'till later?" I sheepishly reply. Barlow sighs on the other end.

"So... what did cha need?" I ask, changing the subject.

"We have a bit of a situation here, so would you mind coming to Pueltown?" Barlow asks.

"Why me?" I ask, curious. *Asking kinda implies she's curious. But you can leave it in if you want.*

"Luana's going to be on patrol duty and Crawford's on a mission." Barlow replies. "Or so Luana told me."

"So I'm your last choice?" I say, pretending to sound hurt.

"N-no! I didn't mean that!" Barlow replies hastily. I smirk while Luana giggles.

"Relax, I was only joking." I chuckle. "I'll be there in a jiff."

I end the call before he can say anything else and stretch. "Guess I have to get ready quickly and go."

...

Barlow is waiting by the road into Pueltown.

"Good morning," I greet.

"It's 11:59 am," Barlow deadpans.

"Technically...nevermind." I sigh, not feeling like countering back.

"Anyways, here's the situation." Barlow begins explaining.

It took around 5 minutes to explain that the Norward Bridge have not been lowered since yesterday and that he and Prof. Hasting spent the whole last night at the Ranger Depot.

"Does he hate flying that much?" I sigh. "And y'know, couldn't you have explained it to me while we were heading to the bridge?"

"Uh..." Barlow is unable to find a response. I shake my head in amusement.

"Let's not waste any more time," I say, as we head for Norward Bridge.

"Ah, you're finally here!" Prof. Hasting exclaims cheerfully.

"Good.. err... afternoon... hehe..." I greet him sheepishly.

"Good afternoon indeed," Prof. Hasting says, brushing his beard with his hand.

"The bridge is down, we need to get to the Union, and the bridge operator is nowhere to be found! How are we supposed to get across?! And we're not going to fly!" Prof. Hasting suddenly says, all of the words frantically coming out in less than 30 seconds.

I stare blankly at his state of panic. Barlow brushes it off.

"He's just stressed about the chance that he might have to fly."

"Oh," I say with raised eyebrows. I wonder what made him hate flying so much?

"So, the bridge operator is Brook." Barlow informs me. "He means well, but he tends to end up just spinning his wheels."

"I can imagine that," I say, thinking about how he jumped into the ocean to give chase to a motorboat.

"Did you say Brook?" A lady passing by says. She must have overheard our conversation. "I saw him in the harbor earlier."

I give Barlow a look. "Well, isn't that convenient..."

He laughs sheepishly. "Didn't see that coming."

We head to the harbor to see the pink-haired guy staring across the sea.

"What to do, what to do," he mutters calmly, tapping his sandals.

"Hey Brook!" Barlow hollers. Brook hears him and turns around.

"We need you to lower the bridge so that we can get through," Barlow says.

"I would love to, but..." Brook trails off.

"But?" Barlow and I repeat in unison.

"But I seem to have dropped the key into the ocean when I was swimming after those crooks. It probably sank to the bottom by now. "

Barlow and I are stunned into silence. It's so quiet, you can hear the breeze coming off of the ocean.

"Seriously?" I say flatly, finally breaking the silence.

"Dude, how can you be so calm right now?" Barlow asks flatly.

"Good point..." Brook says in revelation.

"OH CRAP! THE KEY SANK TO THE BOTTOM! WHAT SHOULD WE DO?! WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!" Brook suddenly exclaims. He even starts running in circles.

"I guess we'll just have to fish for it," I sigh.

"Good idea," Brook comments, suddenly stopping his panic attack. "I'll ask a captain to get us out to sea."

"Erm..." Barlow looks nervous. "Since... you suggested it... why don't you do the honors Kate? I... I'll stay ashore... I-err... work better on land..."

I glance curiously at him. "Are you afraid of diving?"

"W-what? O-of course not!" Barlow suddenly becomes flustered.

"Liar." I deadpan.

"Anyways... here, take this Micro Aqualung." He hands me a red object that looks like the mouth piece of a scuba gear. Brook comes back with a motorboat.

"Let's get going!" Brook hollers from aboard the boat.

"Okay, so just swim down to get the key and then swim back up," Barlow instructs.

He makes sound so simple...

I board the boat and Brook tells the captain to take us out to the middle of the ocean.

"I think it's around here," Brook informs me. "But be careful of the fast-moving currents."

I crouch down to pat Pachi. "Sorry, but I can't take you with me this time."

My partner Pokémon looks sad but nods in understanding.

I put the Micro Aqualung in my mouth and dive down. I gotta admit, the underwater world is pretty nice. The corals, the different Pokémon swimming here and there, and the overall beautiful and peaceful atmosphere are very relaxing.

Where is the key... I wonder to myself. A Mantine swims past me. It almost seems as if it's flying through the water. I send out the disc to capture it. After whirling around in circles, the Pokémon is encased by a solid circle and a flash of light, signaling a successful capture.

I signal Mantine to help me travel through this underwater world. Grabbing onto the water Pokémon, we search throughout the area. Then, I see something glint in the water. When I squint, I see that it's a key.

Found it...Not. A Sharpedo rushes past, grabbing the shiny key in his mouth.

"Mantine! Chase after it!" I mumble through the aqualung. Oh hey, I can talk through this thing...kinda. In the middle of the chase, I get a call.

_You gotta be kidding me..._ I thought, exasperated. In the distance, I can see a underwater current.

"Mantine, use the current to catch up to Sharpedo!" I command. Then, I answer the call.

"I'm kinda busy right now..." I mumble.

"What's the status?" Barlow asks, not having heard my previous comment.

"A Sharpedo took the key, get the picture?" I ask. "I'm giving chase so I'll call you later."

"Man!" Mantine cries to my attention and motions towards the Sharpedo. We're getting closer and closer to it that my disc and reach Sharpedo. I aim my styler at the water type pokemon and fire my disc at it.

"Capture on!" We're having a race while I'm doing the capturing. I have to control the disc to keep up with Sharpedo's speed while working the my way around the reef. The pokemon break through the line my disc created but I tried again though it is difficult with Sharpedo moving really fast and Mantine having to steer clear of obstacles such as schools of Finneon, coral reef, and passerby water type pokemon. After a while, I finally got Sharpedo.

"Capture complete." I put the disc back into place. "Sharpedo, stop!"

The Pokémon obeys my command, but it looks terribly sick.

"Oh no..." I say, appalled at what I'm about to do.

...

"You found it?" Brook asks after I arrive up on the surface with Mantine.

"Yeah..." I reply. "Thanks Mantine."

I climb up onto the boat and sit down.

"I'll be honest, I thought there would be no chance of ever getting the key back."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I say sarcastically. We travel back to shore, where Barlow is waiting for us.

"You're back!" Barlow exclaims, sounding relieved. "Wasn't it rough in the water? You weren't intimidated? You opened your eyes down there? What happened-"

I have extend a hand to stop him from tossing me one question per second.

"To answer all of that, it's not that bad if you ignore the fact that I had to go into a Sharpedo's mouth to retrieve the key that it was choking on," I say nonchalantly. I mean, it's over with now... been there done that.

Brook and Barlow's jaws drop. They're apparently dumbfounded by the fact that I would actually stick myself into a Sharpedo's mouth... well, my arm and head, anyways.

I shiver. It's not a fond memory... all those teeth...

"You know... you're starting to really, really impress me," Barlow suddenly says.

"Um... thanks," I say, slightly embarrassed. I then hand the key to Brook, who nearly drops it again. I have to take his hand, put the key in it, and then close his hand so he can hold onto it.

* * *

**End of this chapter.**

**And thanks to Nighttyger for helping me proofread this!**


	12. Chapter 12 - A Tour And a Meeting

Chapter 12 - A Tour and A Meeting

* * *

So, we got the key, I dried myself with the help of a Growlithe I captured, we went back to Norward bridge, Brook lowered it and – voilá! Everything is as it should be, except for the fact that Prof. Hasting is a little too overjoyed at the fact that he doesn't need to fly anymore.

"Professor!" shouts a voice that sounds a little familiar.

"Ah, Murph, what is it?" Prof. Hasting inquires, now calm. Murph? That's his name? I seem to know him from somewhere, but I can't pinpoint it.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" pants a tired Murph. "When you didn't return to the Union yesterday like you said you would, I got really worried!"

"No need to worry about that! Anyways, we need to reach the Ranger Union so that we can discuss those Gigaremos! Onward, Barlow!"

"Y-yes... sir...?" Barlow doesn't seem to know how else to respond to that as he follows Prof. Hasting to the Union. No offense to him or anything, but Prof. Hasting is kind of weird.

Murph and I stay rooted to our spots, watching the two blankly as they disappear from sight.

"..." Silence befalls the two of us. It starts getting awkward, though, so I decide to break it.

"Hey, Murph right?" I ask for confirmation.

"Ya-huh," The man nods with a smile.

"Have I seen you from somewhere?" I raise an eyebrow. "You look familiar, and your name is too."

Silence settles upon us again as he mulls over my statement of where I have seen him before. This situation is kind of awkward...

"Now that you mention it..." Murph taps his head, trying to remember. "What's your name?"

"My name's Kate, Kate Hitomi."

"Aha!" Murph exclaims. He must have had a revelation. Then points a finger at me. "You're Lunick's sister, right?"

"We're not related but we treat each other like siblings," I reply.

"I'm Lunick's friend, I used to be a ranger, and I worked in the same base as him and Solana!" Murph gives a friendly smile. "They tried to introduce me to you, but you were attacked by wild Pokémon! Honestly, that wasn't the best introduction..."

"Ah!" I slam my fist into my palm in realization. "Yeah, that was horrible."

"So you've become a ranger now?" Murph asks rhetorically, looking at my uniform.

"Mmhm!" I nod happily. "And this is my partner Pachi."

"Chupa!" greets the happy electric-type.

"Nice to meet you Pachi! Y'know, I decided to switch from being a ranger." Murph grins sheepishly. "Now I'm a PR officer at the Union, which means I have access to all kinds of info in the Ranger database!"

Oooh~ Any kind of information? Now that sounds interesting, maybe he knows how my friends are doing at their jobs!

"Anyways, did you just finish a mission?"

"Yep! Alive and well out of a Sharpedo's mouth!" I grin, giving him a thumbs up.

"...I don't wanna know what you did..." Murph sweatdrops. "But you're probably tired, so want to head to the park up ahead to goof-er, I mean to relax?"

I giggle at his mistake. "Sure!"

Pachi and I follow him to the park, which is named Altru Park. It's a peaceful sight. Neat grass and pretty flowers are laid everywhere, separated by cement walkways and trimmed hedges. Benches are placed short distances from each other, inviting weary park-goers to take a seat. People stroll and sit all around, and soothing fountains flow with gushing water. In the center of all of this is a stage like one that a typical band would perform at. It is surrounded by grass, with a few trees behind it. A water moat winds around the place, making it look like a little rectangular island with only has one path to enter and exit from.

"This place's pretty ni-" Before I can finish my sentence, someone crashes into me.

"Ow..." both of us groan.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," the mystery person apologizes. His voice is a bit familiar, similar to my situation earlier.

"No, it's my fault for just standing around," I return the apology while rubbing my behind.

"Chupa?" Pachi looks at me with worry.

"Kate! Are you okay?" Murph comes over to us and looks at me with as much concern as Pachi.

"Kate? No wonder you sound familiar!"

"Hah?" I look forward to see a blonde boy with a mushroom-style haircut wearing a white lab coat. "Issac!"

I seem to be bumping into a lot of friendly faces today.

"So you remember me too!" Issac gives me a friendly smile, then we both stand up.

"You two know each other?" Murph has his head tilted slightly.

"Yeah, this is Issac," I introduce. "He was a schoolmate of mine at the Ranger School."

"Nice to meet you!" Issac extends a hand for a friendly handshake, which Murph takes gladly.

"Same here, name's Murph by the way!"

"Oh! You guys want to take a tour of my work place?" Issac offers out of the blue. "It's nearby."

"Why not?" I shrug.

"Absolutely!" Murph responds cheerfully. Issac leads us to a giant purple building with a lot of glass windows a short distance from the park. On the ground in front of the entrance is a large purple flame design.

"This place is huge!" I stand gawking at the building for a moment.

"The name of this building is Altru Tower, but that is only temporary," Issac informs us. "There is a contest to decide the permanent name."

"Oh oh!" Murph proceeds to raise his hand like he is in class or something. "I know that! I sent in the name "Muscle Tower"! Doesn't it sound powerful?"

Issac, Pachi, and I only give him a look that says: "Seriously"?

Murph doesn't seem to notice due to his happy mood. "I hope it gets picked!"

In my mind, I plead that it doesn't. That's probably what Issac is thinking too, judging from the look on his face.

"You work here?" I ask, snapping out from my thought.

"Yep, Altru Inc," Issac responds. At the entrance, there are two security guards standing alert, but we enter without a problem.

"The ground floor serves as an exhibition level where visitors are welcomed."

I look around and see many different kinds of things in glass cases, all with labels. In the middle, there is a long purple carpet that leads to an elevator. Someone must really like the color purple.

"The portraits over there are the presidents of Altru Inc. over the years of its existence." While Murph is fascinated by the different objects in the cases, I take a look at the three portraits. Doyle M. Hall, Brighton Hall, and, as Issac informs me, Blake Hall, whose portrait is the last one on the right. He's wearing black glasses.

"He's the current president of Altru Inc."

At this moment, I get another call.

"Sorry," I apologize before I answer the call. "Hello?"

"Kate, we need you to help us with the meeting discussing the Gigaremos," Barlow says, "since Luana told me that you know how they work. Bring something that can destroy a red one."

"Okay," I reply simply.

"Oh, and tell Murph to show you where the Union HQ is." With that, Barlow ends the call. I have a weird on look on my face. How does he know that Murph is with me right now? For all he knows, one or both of us might have gone back to our respective bases.

"Something wrong?" Issac inquire. I shake my head.

"Sorry, we'll have to end the tour," I say apologeticly. "Murph and I are needed at the Ranger Union."

"That's fine!" Issac gives an understanding smile. I call Murph over and tell him about Barlow's call. We bid goodbye to Issac and make out way out of the building. As we're leaving, a man wearing black glasses and a black business suit catches my eyes. He's entering with a green-haired man wearing a lot of ghost-white makeup, who is grinning widely. **(He reminds me of Joker from Batman.)**

Something about the man in black causes uneasiness inside me. It's as if there is a dark aura hanging over him. However, I remind myself that I don't have time for such vague feelings as we head out of Altru Tower. Murph leads Pachi and I towards the Ranger Union, which is to the west of Altru Tower. On the way, we pass by log cabins with the occasional stump next to them, which often have axes stuck in them, and Oddish being shy and digging holes to bury themselves in. I find a water type, a Bibarel, so I decide to capture it for the red Gigaremo.

"Capture on!" The released disc circles around the Bibarel. The Pokémon attempts to attack with a continuous Water Gun, but I avoid the attack. The Bibarel doesn't make much effort to run, which makes it a bit easier since I don't have to chase it like I did with Sharpedo. The disc circles around the water-type Pokémon until a solid ring appears and quickly envelopes it in a flash of light.

"Capture complete!" I declare as I return the disc to my styler. "Now we just need to get to the Union HQ!"

We reach the Ranger Union in no time flat, but the flight of stairs leading up to it is tiring. The building is pretty tall, but it doesn't compare to how tall Altru Tower is. There is apparently a tree on top of the building.

"Is there a... tree up there?" I ask skeptically.

"Yeah," Murph casually replies, ignoring my look of surprise. "C'mon, let's go in!"

Bibarel follows us into the building while Pachi perches on my shoulder. Inside, there is an escalator to the left and an information desk in front of me. The first floor is very spacious, with townspeople reporting in for help and workers here and there. The blue and white Ranger Union emblem is printed on the tile floor.

"This is where I work," Murph says proudly, showing me the place. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to into my professional work mode."

I raise an eyebrow. Professional work mode?

"If you take the escalator on your left, you'll get to the Conference Room, which is on the second floor."

"Ah, thanks!" As Murph instructed, the Pokémon and I take the escalator up to the second floor and find the room in the middle to be labeled 'The Conference Room'.

I peek inside to see what's going on. This room is also pretty big. The floor in this particular room looks as through it's a computer screen and shows the whole Almia region. A few researchers, Pokémon Rangers, including Barlow, an elderly woman, and Prof. Hasting stand surrounding a red, working Gigaremo, though this one doesn't seem to emit any of the harmful sounds.

"There you are!" Barlow exclaims, noticing me as I completely enter the room. With his comment, everyone's curious eyes are on me, which makes me smile awkwardly.

"This is Kate, the prize rookie that I was talking about!" Barlow introduces me to everyone. I stare at him with wide eyes at the compliment.

Prize rookie? Since when was I called that?

"This up-and-coming Ranger figured out how to stop the Gigaremo units." Barlow gives me a grin. "Give them a demonstration, Kate!"

He gives me a pat on the shoulder with such force that I stumble forward.

"And sorry to spring this up on you so suddenly."

"O-okay..."

I command Bibarel to use Water Gun on the Gigaremo, and the machine is destroyed in an instant. I thank Bibarel and pat the Pokémon on its head.

"The Gigaremo units can be destroyed using the method you just witnessed, but also keep in mind that there are different ones that run on different power. These various types are distinguished by their colors," Prof. Hasting explains. "With the help of Pokémon, these units can be destroyed. Now get that information sent to all Rangers."

The professor turns to me and gives me a sincere thanks for coming all the way here to demonstrate.

"No problem, I was in the area anyways." I grin sheepishly. After the red Gigaremo is moved away, Prof. Hasting takes the center.

"Incidentally, did you all notice something peculiar about that particular machine?"

"They didn't affect the Pokémon?" I say, to which Prof. Hasting nods.

Suddenly, the floor screen begins to pop up data about the Gigaremo, with a diagram showing a diamond-shaped section in the middle of the Gigaremo taking focus. This is kinda cool.

"Does everyone see that diamond in this diagram?" We all nod in response.

"That small black stone was in the red Gigaremo, but I removed it when I had the machine rebuilt. It would seem that it is this black stone that hypnotizes Pokémon and that without it, the Gigaremo units are harmless."

The information on the floor slowly disappears until it only shows the Almia region again.

"That stone clearly embodies some mysterious power."

Barlow then says that "We will have to destroy them one by one until we come up with a solution to end all of this once and for all." Then, a Ranger lady with wavy green hair speaks.

"The Union is already working hard to analyze the black stone and have also launched an investigation on Team Dim Sun," the lady says firmly. I think her name is Wendy, I saw an article about her and Sven being Top Rangers.

"Excuse me, rookie," Wendy calls my attention. "Would you mind answering some questions for me?"

I nod and she begins asking me lots of questions, mostly about Team Dim Sun and the Gigaremo, particularly about what they did or what the Gigaremo can do.

The elderly woman speaks. Her name is Erma and she is the Chairperson of the Union - I also read that in the Almia Times.

She summarizes the threat that Team Dim Sun is bringing to Almia and that the Rangers are here to serve the populace and work together to protect the peace. With that, Chairperson Erma leaves, followed by Prof. Hasting, Wendy, and a researcher.

Barlow turns to me. "I have matters to discuss with Prof. Hasting, so feel free to explore and introduce yourselves to everyone. I'll be in the Research Room when you're done."

"You got it!" I grin, following him out and then doing as he told me - explore!


	13. Chapter 13 - Peril in Peril Cliffs!

Chapter 13 - Peril in Peril Cliffs

* * *

I head outside to release Bibarel, then go around the HQ observing what the workers are doing. The HQ has four floors, with the top floor having tree on it. I can't really tell if it's real or not. The leaves and outstretched branches function as the roof for the HQ. It looks like there is a pond behind the huge tree, and there's even grass and a few flowers! I head down to the operation floor where the operators work. There's so many buttons tempting me to push them, but I restrain myself from touching them. The huge screen panels show various data on subjects ranging from the status of the HQ to critical missions that Rangers are currently carrying out. While watching the screens and the Operators giving instructions through their headsets, I catch a bit of what one is saying.

"Did you reach Sinnoh?"

"It is confirmed that the kidnapped Riolu is located at a security-tight building. I'll send the data to you."

The operator types in some commands on the computer.

"Be sure to look out for Hunter J as well."

A kidnapped Riolu, huh? I hope that whoever it is saves the Pokémon. And Hunter J... isn't she a infamous Pokémon poacher in Sinnoh?

While deep in thought, I accidentally lean on some random buttons. I jump in alarm as the room flashes red and sirens start to go off.

"YIKES!" I yelp, stepping back and knocking the Operator that was talking earlier out of their chair.

"OW!" The line she was talking through was suddenly put on speakers.

"Is everything okay over there?" The Ranger on the other end asks. Strange... his voice sounds so familiar - but I don't have time to think about that!

"I'M SO SORRY!" I apologize hastily to the Operator I knocked down. While the room becomes alert and everyone rushes around to stop whatever trouble I unknowingly caused, I dash out on instinct to prevent myself from making even more mistakes.

Okaaayy... time to find Barlow. I hope he's still in the Research Room with Prof. Hasting, unknowing of the trouble I caused.

"BARLOW!" I exclaim once I step through the Research Room door. The people in there give me weird looks.

"Oops!" I cover my mouth once I realize how loud I was.

"Yes Kate?" comes Barlow's voice. I look ahead to meet the blank looks of Barlow and Prof. Hasting.

"I uh... I'm finished touring the Union HQ," I say as calm as I can manage, inwardly hoping they haven't noticed the chaos on the floor above them.

"That's great and just on time too, I was going to look for you to tell you that we'll be spending the night at the Union."

Say wha...? I turn pale instantly. I have the whole night to possibly cause more problems?!

Barlow notices my reaction and furrows his brows. "Why are you so pale? Did something happen?"

I stiffen up and chuckle nervously. "N-No... e-everything is absolutely normal!"

...Except for the third floor.

At that moment, Prof. Hasting receives a call.

"The operation floor is WHAT?!"

Uh oh. "Um... see ya tomorrow chief!" I zoom out of the room before they can do anything.

"KATE!" Barlow's voice roars throughout the building. This is gonna be some night...

* * *

The Ranger's POV

Somewhere in Sinnoh...

"Thanks, I got the-" Before I can finish, I hear sirens through my Fine Styler.

"OW!" Linda shouts through the communicator.

"Is everything okay over there?" I ask.

"I'M SO SORRY!" The voice is so loud that I have to move my Styler away from myself.

That voice... is that...?

"Yeah, everything is getting back under control," Linda replies a few moments later with a bit of strain in her voice. "Some rookie ranger messed with the operation room and knocked me over."

I can still hear the sirens.

"Rookie ranger?"

"Twin tails, spiky brown hair," she describes with fuming anger in her voice. "Couldn't quite catch her face since she zoomed out of the room right after. Ugh, gotta set everything back to normal. You got the data though, right? I gotta fix this. CALM DOWN EVERYONE!"

She hangs up right after that. I sweatdrop.

Spiky brown hair? Twin tails? Causing trouble?

I slap a hand to my face. I knew it...

"Kate..."

I fear for the state of the HQ if she becomes a Top Ranger if she's already caused this much trouble when she is still a 'rookie' according to Linda.

Wait... why is she at the Union HQ?

* * *

Pachi and I ended up spending the night in a tree outside of the Union, knowing that it would be troublesome spending the night inside.

"Kate! Wake up!" Barlow's voice bellows.

"Wha... WAH!" I lose my balance when I open my eyes. In less than a second, Pachi and I are face to face with the ground.

"You could've still slept in the Union even though you caused all that chaos," Barlow says, folding his arms. "We all forgave you."

"Well... I didn't want to risk causing any more problems," I reply stiffly, rubbing my sore back. Pachi yawns and climbs onto my shoulder to nuzzle me.

"Good morning to you too," I say, smiling and patting Pachi on the head.

"Let's get back to the Vientown base!" Barlow says, and I get up and follow him down the steps that lead up to the Union HQ.

On the way back, the ground starts to tremble.

"Yikes!" I yelp, falling to the ground for the second time today.

"What is that?" Barlow asks no one in particular.

"An earthquake maybe?" I say aloud.

"Chupa chupa!" Pachi tries to get our attention, and then leads us to Peril Cliff where the quake is much stronger.

"Looks like the earthquake isn't natural," observes Barlow. Well thanks, Captain Obvious.

"Time to take a look." I sigh heavily, looking at how much we have to climb. After some extreme rock climbing, dodging tackling Gligar and calming down some Pokémon that havd been disturbed by the unnatural tremors, we get to- "What is this giant leaf thingy?" I ask.

I poke at it and then stand on top of it to get a better look.

"Careful! That's a springy leaf pa-"

"AHHH!"

"...that launches you into the air..."

"SAY IT BEFORE I ACTUALLY STEP ON IT!" I retort in midair. After a moment, I land on my behind on another leaf and the same thing happens. The next one causes me to hit a passing Staravia.

"Yikes!" I look down with fear and see a really long drop. Then I look to my right. There's a spot where I might be able to land – but it's on the other side of a cliff, too far for me to get to. Unless... I look up at the Staravia, which I had grabbed onto out of instinct. It's eyes are closed, so I yell at it, but it doesn't respond. Starvaia must have been knocked out when I hit it.

"This is not good!" I mutter and look around in desperation as I began to fall.

"Staravia! Wake up!" I shake the Pokémon vigorously. I can feel myself starting to panic – never a good thing.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" I yell frantically. "Please wake up!"

The Staravia flinches a bit and slowly starts to regain consciousness.

"YES!" I exclaim. "Capture on!"

With Staravia not knowing what is going on, it is really easy to capture - no resistance.

Then I look down to see the head of a man wearing a black beanie. It looks like I'll be landing on him if I don't do something. "CRAP!"

I ask Staravia to help me out of the situation.

"Star!" Staravia places its talons into the back of my uniform and tries its best. I do slow down a bit, but I'm still falling. I clench my teeth and mentally curse gravity.

Suddenly, Staravia's grip slips and I start falling down at full speed. Oh well, better warn the man that I'm coming down.

"LOOK OUT BE-"

THUD!

Oops, hehe... too late. I headbutt into him and we both crash onto the ground, eyes swirling around and Staravia flying around our heads. Only the sound of something crumbling and the still-constant tremors wake me up.

"Whuh...?" I temporarily forget where I am as I look at two Rampardos crashing into the side of the mountain. Is that normal...?

Then I notice that their eyes are lifeless and hear that weird noise again. It sounds like it came from the machine that is placed in front of me, which, in my defense, I just noticed.

"What's happen-WAH!"

"GET OFF ME!" The man pushes me to the ground face first. That's when I realize that the man I fell on top of is none other than a Team Dim Sun grunt. I glare at the man.

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask him.

"I err... I'm a scientist studying on dirt." He staggers a little. Dirt? Seriously? That's the best excuse he has?

"Then tell me what the dirt of Peril Cliff is composed of," I demand leisurely, knowing that he won't be able to answer my question.

"Well um... it's dirt and... minerals... and dirt..." I snicker as he tries to come up with a response.

"ARGH! Forget it!" He types in some command on a case-like machine standing on four legs. "Get her!"

The two Rampardos suddenly stop charging at the wall and run after me. I can't really capture both of them at the same time. I ask Staravia to slow them down, but the attacks aren't working.

Not good, I think as Staravia and I start to flee. So those case things act like Gigaremos. Speaking of which, I see a barricade of Pokémon and two yellow ones up ahead. I jump over the Pokémon and Gigaremos. The Pokémon start chasing after me, but then get ran over by the two large fossil Pokémon. I lead Rampardos charging at the Gigaremos in their attempt to chase after me.

"That's one way to destroy them..." I mutter in amusement, but I feel my legs giving out.

"Kate!" I look up to a cliff above me and see Barlow and Pachi.

"A little help would be nice!" I call to them, but then I think of something. "Actually, I want to try something first!"

I begin running back to where the Team Dim Sun grunt was to see him laughing on the ground. I glare daggers at him and then flip over him.

"What are you-" I stop him, turn around, and point toward the Rampardos and grin. The grunt widens his eyes in shock as the two Rampardos trample over him and the machine. They stop a few inches in front of me, finally out of the control of that Gigaremo thingy. They look around, confused, then leave.

I sigh in relief and collapse to the ground in exhaustion. "Too close..."

The grunt stood up limply and made his escape.

"H-Hey!" I call to him but he is already a speck of dot.

"That was amazing!" Barlow exclaims in awe as he and Pachi approach me.

"Where have you two been?!"

"Well we had to take the long way down since that was such a long drop." Barlow explains. "And there were two other yellow Gigaremo on our way here, which we managed to destroy."

Pachi approaches me with a worried expression.

"I'm okay, just tired."

...

Barlow and I capture a Doduo each and ride them back to Vientown, though Barlow got ahead of me. I didn't mind, though, as I fell behind because I helped some people out on my way back.

"What took you so long Kate?" Barlow asks once I got back. He flashes a grin of victory at me. I roll my eyes.

"It wasn't a race."

"Kate, I'm so jealous that you got to spend a night at the Union!" Luana shouts. Then she starts launching millions of questions at me. "How was it? What is it like? What happened? What did you do there?"

Hearing all those questions makes my head spin. Barlow laughs.

"You look tired Kate, you take a good rest for today. You deserve it after doing an amazing job today!"

"Thanks," I say with no energy in my voice as I drag away from the questioning Luana. "Ask Barlow, he knows."

Before I drift off to sleep with Pachi beside me, I hear everyone outside shouting, "WHAT?!"

Looks like Barlow told them about the 'little mishap'.


	14. Chapter 14 - Teacher For A Day!

Chapter 14 - Teacher For A Day!

* * *

As I leave my room, I notice something – or rather, someone - is missing.

"Morning Kate!" Luana greets with her usual energy.

"Morning," I say nonchalantly, then look trying to see what is missing. "So... where's Barlow?"

"He's on a mission right now so...I'm the leader for the day!" Crawford explains with a huge grin. "So let's parteh!"

I deadpan, "What?"

"...So why are you leader again...?" Luana asks, agitation clearly visible in her words.

"Geez! I was just joking about the party!" Crawford says meekly. "I'm not that irresponsible, right Elaine?"

He turns to the Mechanic for support.

She simply drinks her coffee. "All I know is that I'm gonna need a lot of coffee to survive the day."

Snickers travel around the room.

"What's wrong with me being the leader?" Crawford sweatdrops.

"I got a whole list of never ending reasons," Luana says with a straight face. "Want me to list them off for you? Let's see... you have an afro, can't be taken seriously, goof off too much, lame jokes, your laugh is annoying but so is everything else, obnoxious, irresponsible..."

Luana continues on and on, shooting verbal arrows at Crawford.

"You guys are so heartless," Crawford remarks, hanging his head in shame, then turning his attention to me.

"Anywaayyys... Kate, do you remember the Pokemon Ranger School's outdoor class?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Each year, we send one of our members to teach the class."

I nod, urging him to go on.

"Barlow was supposed to go this year, but, as you can see, he's not available at the moment."

"So..." I'm trying to put what he said together.

"So, Barlow told me to send you instead!" He finishes with a thumbs up.

I blink several times before reacting. "WHAAATTT?!"

Everyone else has to cover their ears because of my scream.

"C-can't someone else do it?" I stutter. Teaching is not really my ideal job...

"No can do, kiddo," Crawford says sternly.

"But I- wait, I thought you're the leader for the day," I deadpan. "So why can't you change it?"

Crawford does a double take on that. "Err..."

Luana laughs. "She got you there!"

Crawford shoots a glare at Luana before coming up with an answer. "Because... I went last year, Luana will not be able to attend, and Barlow's not here. He also said it'll be a great experience for you, and I agree."

That's... actually a reasonable answer.

"So... why can't you go again this year?" I narrow my eyes at the man. Crawford is acting... a little out of character.

"When has there ever been a rule that states you can't go for two consecutive years?"

"There is one NOW," he replies strictly.

"You're acting too stern," I pout. "Where is our Crawford and what have you done to him?"

Crawford turns red in embarrassment, and everyone else suppresses the urge to laugh.

"He's not available today," Crawford finally says.

"Then give me all the reasons why I have to go and why can't I switch places with you or Luana," I demand.

"Oh for the love of - BECAUSE I SAID SO!" Crawford exclaims frustratedly. Ah, now that is the answer that I'm looking for.

"I'm trying to be leader-like here! Give me a break!"

I smirk inwardly... hehe, a mental breakdown, not that I'm trying to achieve that, yep, definitely not trying.

Luana tuts. "We don't give Barlow a break, so why should you get one?" Crawford groans.

"Kate, just go will ya?" he pleads. "No more complaints."

I stifle a giggle and head out, but not before giving a two finger salute. "Roger!"

* * *

Normal POV

Crawford sulks in the corner as Kate leaves for her one day teaching career... well, not exactly teaching, just answering whatever questions the students may have.

"I'm getting a headache already..." the afro man mopes. "Maybe I'm not suited for to the job after all."

"Oh, cheer up, Crawford!" Luana comforts. "Kate was only trying to get you to be yourself!"

"We were all just testing you," Elaine says kindly.

"You didn't have to give me a headache while you were at it."

"Crawford, there is no one else fit to replace Barlow," Luana says, targeting his pride. "We need your your leadership when he is not around. Your jokes and goofiness cheers us up!"

"Well, if you put it that way..." Crawford gets up, head held high with new found confidence. "I guess I'm really am the only one who can be leader when Barlow's not around."

"Now that's the Crawford we know!" Luana cheers, then walks away. "Oh, and I was only kidding about what I said before."

Crawford is speechless, but doesn't sulk like last time.

"You really know which spots to hit," Lyla, the Operator, remarks.

"Of course," Luana replies haughtily with a wink.

* * *

Kate's POV

Pachi and I decide to race to the Ranger School, but we stop when we see something up ahead on the bridge connecting to the school grounds. It looks like a duo of Team Dim Sun grunts standing near a case-like machine standing on four legs, and a Croagunk walking in circles.

"Hehe, this Mini Gigaremo is amazing!" One of them remarks. "It's easier to move than those fire hydrant-sized ones."

"And it does the same job!" The other one of the duo laughs. "Just look at what we can make this stupid Croagunk do!"

I just stand there, staring at them out in the open. Are they idiots?

"Do a spin and dance like a ballerina!" One of them commands. The Croagunk obeys immediately, twirling and dancing around.

I clear my throat to make myself known.

"Wha - since when did a Ranger get here!?" The other grunt exclaims, finally noticing me.

"I've been here the whole time you were immersed in your little device," I deadpan.

They turn red in embarrassment. "W-we'll show you! Croagunk, get her!"

One of them begins typing randomly on the 'Mini Gigaremo', as they called it. Suddenly, the machine releases a small explosion.

"What did you do?!" the other one panics.

"I-I don't know!"

...Yep, idiots.

"Anytime now." I fold my arms and tap my foot as they prance around their machine. Croagunk is rooted in one spot, motionless.

"I have to get to school so..." I aim my Styler at the Croagunk. "Capture on!"

The disc goes around and around the Pokémon effortlessly. This is as easy as the capture with Staravia - no resistance whatsoever.

"Capture complete," I say once the light flashes. Croagunk snaps out from its trace and looks at me.

"Ack!" Both of the grunts panic as the machine explodes again. "Let's get out of here!"

I raise my eyebrows as both of them jump ship - or bridge, in this case.

"That... was something..." I remark, earning a nod of agreement from Pachi.

"Croa... croa... croa..."

"Heh?" I realize that the Croagunk is still there... creeping me out with its stare. "W-what...?"

We had a staring contest that felt like it lasted for an eternity. I lost.

"What do you want?" I ask again, unable to understand what the Pokémon wants.

"Gunk." The Pokémon jerks his head away and waddles off. Pachi and I sweatdrop at Croagunk's antics.

"Ookaayy..." What was that for?

"Chupa chupa!" Pachi reminds me that we have somewhere to go.

"Oh right!" I dash for the school gate, hoping I'm not late because of the staring contest. Once I enter the school, I'm immediately greeted by my former teacher, Ms. April!

"Kate? Is that you?"

"Long time no see Ms. April!" I wave.

"I heard they were sending another Ranger because Barlow couldn't make it, but I didn't expect it to be you!" Ms. April says with astonishment.

"I know, I didn't expect this either." I grin sheepishly.

"I'm glad to see you back and working hard." My former teacher gives me a welcoming smile. "Come, we have to speak with Principal Lemont."

We chat as we make our way inside. I start to feel nostalgic as I remember what my friends and I did here.

"Principal Lemont, you'll never guess who came," Ms. April says with a smile. The said man turns around and looks at me from behind his glasses.

"Kate!" He exclaims. "So you will be teaching today?"

"Yeah..." I say nervously. We have another chat before we decide to head for Ascension Square.

"Do you still remember where it is?" Ms. April asks. I nod.

...

I begin to get Butterfree in my stomach as students start to surround me at Ascension Square.

"Class, I would like you all to meet Kate Hitomi, a graduate of our class!" Ms. April introduces proudly.

"H-hi guys..." I wave nervously. "Let me introduce you to my partner, a Pachirisu named Pachi."

"Chupa!" Pachi greets eagerly, hopping off and running around. Everyone stares in awe, either at me or at Pachi.

I chuckle at Pachi's antics. "Sorry, she's really energetic today."

"Let's begin the Outdoor Class's main event: Questions and Answers!" Ms. April announces.

A student raises his hand immediately. "Did you get good grades?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"I'm next! Have you seen a real Gigaremo?"

"Many times."

"That's so cool!"

Another student speaks up. "Is being a Ranger busy?"

"Sure is."

"Have you ever made an embarrassing mistake?"

"Uh... I stepped onto a springy leaf pad without knowing what it was, and then collided with a Staravia in midair, and..." I try to think back to what I've done since I've become a Ranger.

"Does accidentally throwing the Ranger Union into chaos and having everyone chase me until nighttime count?" I blurt out before I realize what I am saying. Everyone stares at me with wide eyes.

"WHAT?!" All of them exclaim, causing me to step back a little.

"It was an accident!" I defend quickly. The teachers start to laugh and everyone else follows.

"H-hey!" When all the laughter finally dies out, the questions continue for a while more.

10 minutes later...

"Ehehe... Are you in love with someone right now? Or have you had a crush before?"

That... was uncalled for. I do a double take and turn all red as memories flood back in. "Uh..."

"I... um..." Damn it! Why do I keep thinking of Kellyn!? I don't like him! I don't like anyone! Besides... I don't even think he likes me back... So just say a simple no!

Everyone looks at me in amusement when I fail to answer the question immediately.

"Remember, answer truthfully." The girl who had asked the question has a sly grin on her face.

Gah! I mentally hit my head against a wall as I turn even more shades of red.

"Kyaa~! Ranger! You're blushing! That means yes, right?" the girl squeals with excitement. "That's so cute!"

"I... err... y.. n... y-"

"Yoohoo! I have a question!" Thank Arceus for whoever just said that! We all turn around to see... the same Team Dim Sum duo that I faced earlier...

They approach us with angry faces. "Dear Ranger, why did you have to mess with us earlier? Oh you don-"

"Because of your stupidity for being out in the open," I deadpan, immediately cutting them off and earning snickers from the students. "Now are there any more questions?"

The two clench their teeth and make a face. "We'll teach you a lesson!"

"Time for our payback!" the other grunt seethes. I get in front of everyone as the students walk backwards in panic and confusion.

"Everyone please calm down!" Principal Lemont says. "We have a Ranger with us, so it'll be alright!"

"Do you know how long it took to dry our clothes?!" one of the grunts spits.

"Nope, and I don't care to know," I reply nonchalantly.

"Who are you people?!" Ms April demands. "I absolutely forbid you to harm any of our students!"

"Aw..." one of the grunts coos. "That's real sweet - and cliche."

"The teacher's pretty feisty. Let's show them Team Dim Sun's might!"

"You may have destroyed the first Mini Gigaremo, but there's plenty more where that came from!" The grunt duo pull out another of those Mini Gigaremos and type in some commands.

"Chupa..." Pachi's cheeks spark with electricity.

"Better not mess up this time," I taunt with a smirk. They glare daggers at me.

"Carnivine, go!" Two Carnivine appear out of nowhere and attack me with Razor Leaf. I tumble out of the way and get directly in front of the two grunts.

"Pachi, paralyze them!"

"Chupa!" In a split second, the two grass-types are immobilized. I grin and aim my Styler at the two Pokémon.

"Capture on!" I guide the disc around the two grass-types until a solid circle appears. As it starts to encase the two, one of the Carnivine break free and jump out of the way.

"Tch." I only manage to get one as the other one lunges at me. I crouch down, one leg out and one hand on the ground, to dodge, causing the Carnivine to hit the two grunts instead.

"Gah! What are you doing?" yells the grunt with the Carnivine biting his head. "Get the Ranger! Not me!"

I snicker and dodge the incoming Carnivine as he pries the Pokémon off and throws it at me.

"Capture on!" I say again as I send out the capture disc. I make swift movements with my Styler and the disc quickly forms a solid loop, encasing the second Carnivine - but not before the grass-type spits out a Bullet Seed attack.

"Yikes!" I quickly move out of the way, but I fortunately don't need to restart because a flash of light appears, signaling the capture's success.

"Capture complete," I simply say. The Mini Gigaremo that the grunts have starts going on the fritz and releases a small explosion.

"Crap! We just got schooled again!" exclaims the grunt who now has bite marks from the Carnivine.

"We look like buffoons now!" says the other distraughtly. "Let's bail!"

The two quickly zoom away. I pat Pachi for doing a good job, and everyone claps at my performance.

"We got to see a Ranger in action!" A boy exclaims in excitement.

"That was awesome!"

"Kate, thank you for today." Ms April beams at me. "You represent so much to our students. I'm sure everyone here won't forget today's event. I hope you'll come back even more wonderful than you are now."

"I have one last question!" A student raises their hand. "Is being a Pokémon Ranger fun?"

"Absolutely!" I give them all a genuine smile.

...

"I'm back!"

"Croa... croa... croa..."

"Heh...?" I stare blankly at the Croagunk in front of me as I enter the base. Isn't this the same one from earlier?

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow!" I hear Crawford cry in agony.

"Take." I see Luana pining the guy to the ground like he is a criminal or something.

"It." Her face seems to have a dark presence looming over it.

"Back," she says through gritted teeth as she twists Crawford's arm behind his back. I think I hear a crack.

"OOOOOWWWWWWW!" Crawford screams in agonizing pain.

"So... do I care to know what happened?" I ask Elaine casually, who shrugs.

"Probably not," she says nonchalantly. "By the way, that Croagunk has been here all day. We have no idea what it is doing here, and he isn't causing any trouble either."

"Croa... croa... croa..." The Croagunk puffs out its cheeks with every 'croa' it says.

"Chupa? Chupa chupa?" Pachi climbs down to chat with the poison-type.

"Uh... I think it's the one I saved earlier."

"It must have taken a liking to you." Eliane says.

I raise an eyebrow. "How can you even tell with Croagunk's face like that?"

"Gunk." Croagunk waddles out of the base. Elaine and I watch it leave.

"Pachi, did you say something to Croagunk?" Pachi points to me then to herself.

"Um... Croagunk wants to stay with us?" Pachi nods vigorously. "So that means he's... heading for my house."

...Wait what?

Out of the corner of my eyes, I see that Luana is still torturing Crawford.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT MALE RANGERS ARE SUPERIOR TO FEMALES!"

...Hell no.

"WHAT?!" Rage fills my eyes as I forget everything. A dark aura settles upon my face and my eyes turn blood-thirsty as I crack my knuckles.

Elaine gives a look that says, 'I told you so,' then looks at Crawford with a 'You're so doomed' look.

Crawford has a look of petrified horror as both Luana and I advance on him with the same menacing look.

* * *

Screams of horror and agonizing pain can be heard all the way at the Ranger Union.


	15. Chapter 15 - Pleasant Trip to a Volcano

Chapter 15 - A Pleasant Trip to a Volcano

* * *

The morning is always entertaining for me. Luana is always yelling at or chasing Crawford, who had magically recovered from the torture we had inflicted on him, because of something he did or said, with Barlow trying to calm both of them down. Elaine is either dismantling something or reading the newspaper. Lyla talks on the phone without a care in the world or just watches the two Rangers in amusement. But that isn't the case today. When I get up, everyone is tense and anxious.

"Did something happen?'" I ask. Everyone looks at me as if they just noticed I was there.

"Kate, I need you to go to Boyleland as soon as possible," Crawford orders gravely. This time, it's not the I'm-trying-to-act-like-a-leader seriousness. Something is definitely wrong, and I think Barlow's involved.

"Boyleland? Why? Did something happen to Barlow?" I ask in concern.

"We don't know..." Crawford and the others grimace. "Barlow was supposed to be searching for the reason why Pokémon are disappearing from that area, but he ended up disappearing as well."

"The Union's Operation Room sent us the alert," Luana speaks up.

"They said that Barlow's signal suddenly disappeared from their radar, which could only mean that his Styler is nonfunctional. He hasn't made a report either; I'm really worried."

"We all are," Elaine corrected.

"The last signal that they detected from Barlow was from Boyleland Volcano," Crawford explains urgently. "It's either he dropped his Styler in the lava, very likely considering him, or... something terrible has happened."

Everyone shivers at the latter.

"So we need you to go find him," he continues. "The Ranger Union is looking for him, but we have to do something too. Barlow is our leader. We need to make sure he's okay."

"Okay, I'm on it!" I say with a salute, running out the base with Pachi.

"Take the boat from Pueltown, there's one waiting for you!" calls Crawford from the base as the door closes. I look for any Pokémon that will help me get to the port faster and, lucky me, there's a Staraptor flying overhead.

Aim. Set. Fire.

"Capture on!" The capture disc flies up and circles the flying type, but Staraptor continues as if it didn't notice anything. I make a few slashing movements with my Styler to create a solid circle, encasing Staraptor in a glow of light.

"Capture complete." I return the disc to its place and put my Styler away. "Staraptor!"

The flying type quickly descends and allows me to get on top. "Take me to the Pueltown port please."

I feel the air rush against my face and Pachi holding for dear life as the Pokémon flies at full speed. It's a little hard to keep my eyes open to see where I'm going, but I somehow manage.

Within a matter of minutes, we arrive at the port. I thank Staraptor for the ride, and look around to see someone waving at me. I squint to try and make out the figure.

"Chupa!" Pachi quickly gets off my shoulder and runs towards them.

"Pachi!" I run after her, only to find the little electric type playing with a Minun and a Plusle.

...Wait, Plusle?

"Solana!" I lunge at the blunette to give her a hug. She catches me and giggles, returning the hug.

"Long time no see Kate!"

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Lunick folds his arms, standing next to us.

"Oh, chill, Luny," Solana teases. "It's obvious that she likes me better than you."

At that, I laugh out loud.

"Don't call me that!" Lunick and Solana start to argue. They remind me of Luana and Crawford.

"By the way, what are you guys doing here?"

Solana stops putting Lunick in a headlock and looks up. "Oh, we came to pick you up and drop you off at Boyleland."

"Both of you?" I ask, a bit shocked.

"Aw what? Wittle Katie so big that she doesn't need us?" Lunick goes into teasing mode, earning a smack on the head from Solana.

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't want you," Solana says haughtily. It's always amusing to see these two together.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny Sol." Lunick rolls his eyes, annoyed. "We were only accompanying my disciple to HQ but dear Emma insisted that we give you a ride to Boyleland, and Sol happily obliged."

"You have a disciple? Now that's a real surprise," I joke, then pretend to be upset. "And you sounded like you didn't want to see me..."

"Okay. One, ouch, that hurts Katie." Lunick raises his index finger.

"Don't call me that! I'm not a kid anymore!" I pout.

He smirks and continues, raising his middle finger. "Two, I was just teasing you! I'm always happy to see my little sister!"

Lunick then ruffle my hair to make a few strands sticking out of place.

"Lun was upset at first though," Solana adds with a smirk.

I look at Lunick, giving him a stern look that says 'Explain or else.'

"Today was supposed to be our day off," Lunick grumbles.

"And?"

"And I was really looking forward to it." Hearing that makes me soften a bit, but I want to push for an exact answer. I think I know what his reason is, I just want to make sure. He doesn't seem to be paying attention to what he's saying anyways, so he won't catch on until somewhere towards the end.

"And you were really looking forward to it because...?"

"Because I can finally spend time with S- HEY!" Aw...so close.

Lunick blushes deeply, as Solana just blinks with a blank look. I try to hold my laughter back, but I can't.

"KATE!" Lunick starts chasing me around.

"Aw c'mon! I think you two are a perfect couple!" I whine, running so that he doesn't catch me. Solana just watches the two of us, turning red at my comment.

"Gotcha!" he exclaims as he pounces on me and starts tickling me. "The tickle monster is going to get you!"

He knows how I hate being tickled, and how vulnerable I am to it. Now I can't stop laughing.

"O-okay! I-I give!"

"We should get going," Solana finally speaks up, thumbing at the speed boat behind her.

"Hey Lunick," I call to him after we get up.

"Yeah?" I tug his arm down so I can whisper into his ear. A grin spreads from ear to ear on his face.

"Let's go!" he says with new-found energy as he picks Solana up, bridal style.

"H-hey!" She flails about, trying to get down and prevent herself from turning even deeper shades of red.

"Wait for us!" I say as our Pokémon partners and I race to catch up to them.

...

The sea breeze is really refreshing. I can close my eyes and let the breeze take over.

"How are you feeling?" Solana asks.

"I'm worried about my base leader." I reply, opening my eyes and turning to the red-eyed blunette.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Barlow's okay," Solana reassures, sitting next to me. "Besides, you'll be there to back him up if anything goes wrong!"

I smile at Solana, thanking her for the comfort. "Thanks for taking me when you were supposed to be on a break."

"No problem Kate."

Then a horde of Drifloon float lazily pass us.

"Wow..." Solana and I breathe.

"Pretty neat isn't it?" Lunick asks, approaching us. "Migrating Difloon are a pretty rare sight to see. They migrate across the sea when the seasons change. We're lucky that we're able to encounter them."

"Absolutely!" I agree. Then realized something that causes me to quickly turn around. "Hey Lunick..."

"Yeah?" He asks, both he and Solana mesmerized by the migrating Pokémon.

"...If you're here ...then who's driving the boat?"

"..." All three of us blink before our eyes widen.

"Uh oh," was all he could say.

"LUNICK!" Both Solana and I yell at him before all of us run to the steering wheel, only to find Pachi, Minun, and Plusle messing with it. We look through the window to see a huge rock up ahead.

All of us scream for dear life.

"You three! Off!" Lunick urgently orders, taking control. He has to make a sharp turn to the right to avoid collision and our death. We aren't holding on to anything, so of course, when the boat suddenly turns, we're all thrown against the wall.

We all groan as everything comes to an abrupt stop.

"Okay... NEVER let Lunick take the wheel alone EVER again! Better yet, he shouldn't even steer a boat AT ALL!" I declare, then groan again.

"I thought I could leave Lunick to steer and check up on you," Solana says, wincing a little. "But I guess not."

"Hehe..." The guy only laughs sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I wanted to see the migrating Drifloon too, you know."

"You let three Pokémon steer the boat," Solana and I deadpan.

"What?! No I didn't! I don't know how they got in there!" Lunick protests.

"That's it, I'm steering," Solana says sternly, getting up and moving to the controls.

"Hey, at least I saved us from a certain death," Lunick defends.

"We wouldn't have been in that situation if you had stayed at the steering wheel!" Solana seethes.

"Whoa, easy girl!" he says, backing away as if Solana is a Tauros about to go on a stampede.

"Lunick, we promise that if we want to die, we'll come to you," I deadpan.

"Aw c'mon Kat! I won't do it again!" He looks at me with pleading eyes. "Please forgive me!"

I sigh. "Forgiven and forgotten. Geez Solana, how can you work with him all the time?"

"He's serious when he's on the job, but goofs off when he's not," Solana replies indifferently. "So apparently, driving a boat isn't a job."

"Really Lunick?" I ask in a impassive tone. "The passenger's lives are in your hands but you don't think it's a job to make sure they'll come out _alive_?"

Lunick crooked to the side, almost falling. "Okay, I was just _a tiny bit _distracted."_  
_

...Tiny bit? He came out of the control room and left tree pokemon to do whatever they please in there.

"By the way Kat," Lunick says, straightening himself and changing the subject before I could pry deeper. "Have you thought about having a partner while working?"

"What do you mean?" I cock my head to the side. "I have Pachi as my partner."

Pachi climbs up on me and pounds herself on the chest, striking a proud pose.

"No, I mean a partner in crime, err... I mean in justice." he says, correcting himself. "Like how Sol and I work together during most of our missions."

My mouth forms an 'O' shape. "I... don't know, I never thought about it. I don't even know if I work better by myself or with someone else. I don't mean you, Pachi." I add the last part quickly as to not upset my Pokémon partner. Pachi nuzzles me as if to say 'I know.'

"Working with someone that you trust can help a lot," Solana comments. "Your partner will always have your back when you're in a tight spot. Even though it was me getting Lun out of a tight spot most of the time," she adds quickly with a bit of annoyance.

"I can feel the love," Lunick says sarcastically.

"But you guys always manage to have each other's back when you need it!"I remark. "I doubt that I could find someone like that."

"I know someone who said something similar." Lunick grins.

"Who?"

"We're here," Solana announces before Lunick can answer. She docks the boat on an island with steam coming out through cracks on the ground. A few Wingull hover about in the sky.

"He already got you permission to enter the volcano," Solana calls out. "So good luck!"

"Thanks!" I wave them goodbye as I hop off the boat with Pachi.

...Wait, he? Who's he? Prof. Hasting? Crawford?

"We'll see you next time, Kat." Solana winks.

"If you need a ride back, don't bother calling us." Lunick smirks.

"Lun!" Solana growls at her friend.

"Kidding!" He chuckles. "We'll help whenever you need it, okay?"

He then rushes into the boat's steering room, or whatever it's called. "I'm driving!"

"Lun, no!" Solana runs to stop him.

I watch as the boat reverses and disappears in the horizon.

...

"Who knew it would be so hot in here!?" I say aloud, beads of sweat trailing down my face. I mentally facepalm for forgetting where I was for a split second.

_Of course it's going to be like living hell in here! It's a volcano!_

Pachi lays flat on my head, making it even hotter for me. There is lava flowing everywhere like water in streams. I try to avoid the flows as much as possible, but I know I'll have to cross them sooner or later to get anywhere.

"Damn, dead end," I say, annoyed, as I look at the wall in front of me. How many times have I run into one at this point?

I trace my path back to where I was before I took the path that dead-ended and look around. It doesn't seem like I can go anywhere without taking a trip across the river of lava. But what can I do to get across without roasting myself in the process?

As I look around, I notice a Torkoal swimming... or is it walking? ...in the lava without any problem.

"Hm..." I take out my Styler and aim it at the Torkoal. "Capture on!"

I have to make sure that the disc doesn't touch the lava, or I'll never see it again. I carefully guide the disc to circle the Torkoal as it strolls through the lava until a solid circle appears around it and encases it in a flash of light.

"Capture complete!" I call as I return the disc to my Styler. Then I call Torkoal over. "Mind if you take me across?"

The fire type nods in response, turning it's back for me to get on.

I just stand there and gulp. I've never rode through lava on the back of a Pokémon before, but it doesn't hurt to try... right? Well, that's what I'm trying to say to myself, but I only have one chance. If I slip up... I'll be as crispy and burnt as charcoal. One chance. One try. Fail and I'm gone. No more. Nada. Never coming out. Dead.

Okay, I got the point across, let's get this over with. I carefully mount onto Torkoal and it starts waddling through the lava.

"Chupa..." Pachi looks anxiously around, tightening her grip on me.

"I know," I say to her. "I'm scared too."

I sit on Torkoal's back motionlessly as it carries us across. Some lava bubbles near us pop and send drops of lava flying though the air. Luckily, they don't hit us, which is a relief. However, my hand starts to become slippery because of the heat and sweat, and I almost slip.

"EEK!" I shriek, balancing myself back to my original position. Both Pachi and I sigh.

'Barlow, when I find you, you're going to pay for this,' I think menacingly. After a few minutes of holding my breath to think about if I slip up again, Torkoal safely carries us across. Pachi and I quickly hop off onto safe ground.

"Thanks Torkoal!" I say sincerely, waving goodbye to the Pokémon as it waddles away.

We walk a short distance before we feel a breeze to our side and spot an opening out of the volcano.

"Yes! Fresh, cool air!" I say happily as Pachi and I race to get out of the heat. We find ourselves outside on a cliff on the side of the volcano. It looks like a rest spot to my tired, stinging eyes.

"Finally! The heat was killing me!" I cheer, but then immediately trip and fall face forward. At least the ground isn't hot out here, though it's not exactly soft, either.

"It's about time you got here."

"...Huh?" I blink, then see Pachi standing in front of me. Wait... that doesn't look like Pachi... What's a Pachirisu doing here? Before long, I see a pair of feet standing in front of me. I look up to see...

"No way."

* * *

**Hope you guys like this chapter!**

**Sorry if I left a bit of a cliff hanger there XP**

**But you'll probably guess who's up next!**


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